The Legend of the Cursed Samurai

Prologue

The legend of the cursed samurai is a legend as old as time. An urban legend that tells the tale of a lone swordsman who is possessed by the ghost of vengeance and doomed to forever travel the nine realms in search of monsters, evil spirits, and unwanted creatures to vanquish with a single slash from his trusted spirit sword.

It is said that this swordsman possesses a range of special abilities many of which are enhanced by the ghost of vengeance which plagues his mind and body. Super speed, lightning-fast reflexes, enhanced vision, smell, hearing, and strength. These are just a few of the abilities the cursed samurai is capable of. But his most prized possession, the most powerful weapon he carries on his person all the time, the one thing that ensures his victory in almost any struggle, fight, or battle, is his sword.

The spirit sword.

A weapon that was forged by the most powerful entities in the realms and was made from a metal substance known as Midnight steel. They say the sword is able to slice clean through the trunk of a tree, separating the tree in two halves. They also say the sword has a mind of its own which allows it to permanently choose and fuse with any person willing to touch it. That person is then possessed by the Black Spirit, AKA the ghost of vengeance, and is then forced to carry out the rest of his days traversing and extinguishing evil from within the nine realms. This continues until the swordsman eventually dies and a new soul is selected to take his place. Then the sword is passed down to another person and the cycle starts all over again.

But why am I telling you all of this.

Simple.

I think I might be the next cursed samurai.

1.

It started about 3 months ago. The very week I found the sword.

The day started off just like any other. With another nightmare. This time, I dreamt I was an old man walking through the forest in the middle of the night. I wore a pair of white robes and a hat, And I had my trusty long sword hooked to the side of my belt. There was a light rain. A drizzle. And the moon bright an imposing in the sky, illuminated every corner of my surroundings, trying its best to eliminate the darkness that settled behind trees, underneath rocks, and all around me. But unfortunately, it couldn’t. Where there is light, there will always be shadows. And for that forest in particular, where they were shadows, they were spirits. Bad spirits.

I kept moving deeper into the forest for a little while longer, my head lowered and faced down at my feet as I walked. My clothes were drenched and my entire body was soaked from the tops of my hat to the tips of my toes. The bottoms of my shoes were a muddied mess. Any sane person in my situation would have immediately sought out shelter from the beating rain. But I didn’t. More specifically, I couldn’t.  I needed to stay in motion. I needed to keep moving. I needed to stay as far away from the nearest village as possible while I tried to get the voice in my head under control.

Asper usual, it was trying to take over again. Even after 60 years of non-stop mental struggle the ghost in my head had never once given up on trying to cease control of my body whenever it could. I could feel my mind slipping as I walked. The whispers in my head were getting louder with every step I took. My hands were starting to shake and my breathing was growing ragged and intense. For a moment, I feared the day had come. The day I completely lost control of my mind and body to the Black Spirit currently possessing it. It was an inevitable truth. One that was destined to catch up with me sooner or later. However, all I could do in that moment was relax. Or at the very least try to. Because if I didn’t, the alternative was something I did not like to think about.

Continuing on my path deeper into the forest, I was lost in thought, allowing my mind to reach out and collect details about my environment when all of a sudden, I heard something. The snap of a twig. Some several yards behind me. I stopped, turned, and glanced over my shoulder at a bunch of darkened trees. There was a flash of lightning. But there was no one there. Reluctantly, I kept moving. I made it twelve additional steps when all of a sudden, I heard it again. The snap of another twig. This time, it was much closer. I stopped and by reflex, placed my right hand on the hilt of my sword. I turned, but there was still no one there. I knew for a fact I was being followed. Hunted down to be exact. But I needed to play dumb. Dumb enough to appear none the wiser in order to draw my stalker out. So, again, I kept walking. I only made it a few more steps when my assailant finally decided to attack, giving away her element of surprise. Not like she even had one to begin with.

A dark spirit. Long and slender, shot out from a patch of bushes behind me like a panther and tried to slice open the back of my neck with its long and sharpened clause. But I already smelled her coming a mile away, so I simply stepped to decide and allowed her to fly past the side of my head, only missing my cheek by a single inch. She then came to a stop in front of me after performing a twist backflip in midair before landing on all fours with her claws dragging through the mud. Then she glared at me through ember colored glowing eyes, growling at the fact that she almost had me while also trying to discourage me from moving further.

Through the eyes and memories of my past lives, I instantly recognized the dark spirit as Akuno Shisha. A benevolent shape shifting demon who was one of the many spirits assigned to forever hunt me down throughout all of my existence. But the fact that she was still alive and coming after me, meant that she had somehow survived her previous encounters with my predecessors without getting herself killed. Which also meant, on my part, that I had to be careful.

Patiently, I continued staring down at Akuno waiting for her to make the next move. The malevolent panther-like creature was still locked in her predatory stance in front of me, still glaring at me with eyes that burnt of rage and malice. I calculated the distance between us and although she was ten paces ahead of me, I could easily have bridged the gap between us in less than two seconds. But in the state I was in, my mind and body being slowly taken over by the Ghost of vengeance, I couldn’t use my full speed or risk operating at a hundred percent. So, I didn’t.

I waited and after a little while, Akuno stopped growling and began stalking around me in a half circle, searching for a window of opportunity. Or maybe just buying herself some time. I stood still, kept my eyes trained on her, with my now relaxed hand still resting on the hilt of my sword. From some of her previous encounters with my predecessors, she knew very well not to rush me head on, especially not when I can already see her coming a mile away. Which means she was most likely waiting for some kind of diversion on my part, or possible reinforcements on hers.

The shape shifting demon continued prowling around me and when she thought she had an angle, she leapt towards my head again. This time, I responded with a swift pull of my sword. I dodged the attack stepping to the side, and immediately followed it up with a right-hand slash of my blade, slicing off Akuno’s tail. The spirit let out a whimper as she fell towards the ground behind me, but instead of stopping she immediately got back on her feet, turned around, and sprang forward with her clause extended, in hopes of catching me unaware and tackling me to the ground. But with another quick step to the side and another slash of my blade, I sliced off one of her hands.

Akuno suddenly screeched from the pain and crashed into the ground by a tree. She tried getting up but thanks to her now missing limb She could not stand up straight. Standing in front of her with my spirit sword still drawn, I could have shot forward and gone for the kill then. Right then and there. Finally ending her life and giving my successor one less evil spirit to deal with. But just as I began walking forward to deliver the final blow, something else caught my attention

Underneath the gentle patting of raindrops on tree leaves, and underneath the soft singing of sheltered birds within the trees, I could suddenly both hear and smell something. Breathing. Accompanied with a familiar stench of roasted metal and burnt flesh.

Akuno was not alone.

“Samurai.”

A feminine voice, layered and uneven, suddenly called out to me. It sounded like a cacophony of a thousand mismatch voices all speaking together in a chilling unison. I turned my attention back over to Akuno, but instead of coming face to face with the panther like spirit who was on a verge of bleeding out from the stomp in its hand, I instead was now staring at a disheveled, dark haired woman with red eyes, pale skin, and one hand. She had on a dark blue traditional robe like attire and She was in some kind of kneeling, sitting position with her back against a tree.

“It’s been a while.” she said, her evil gaze fixated on me and her lips curving into a grin as she spoke. “I see you haven’t forgotten how to cut me up in to tiny pieces.” she added, briefly glancing at the stomp in her elbow That was spurting blood onto the ground.

Cautious at the fact that we were no longer alone, I walked forward the rest of the way then brought my sword to level with Akuno’s face. Just as I thought, she was nothing more than a diversion, something to keep me busy while the real trap was being sprung. However, now that I knew I was being ambushed, I needed to get a sense of where my enemies were as well as their numbers. I wasn’t about to let myself be pulled into a prolonged battle, so instead of piercing my blade through Akuno’s skull just then, I listened.

To the rain.

To the wind.

To the trees.

And to the birds.

There. Among the trees. Hiding within the darkness of the surrounding canopy, was that familiar smell of burnt flesh and roasted medal staring down at me from a perch. Breathing. And waiting.

“You know I warned them that this wasn’t going to work.” Akuno said, breaking my concentration. “One does not simply sneak up on the samurai. It’s just not possible.” she added, still staring down the end of my blade. The stomp in her right arm was quickly healing itself, evident from the steam rising up from the wound and cauterizing the flesh. “Instead,” She continued, ” I suggested to them that we try a different approach.”

Suddenly, the presence I sensed hiding within the trees was suddenly joined by another. Then another. Then another. Soon enough, the entire forest around me was densely populated by strange creatures hiding within the shadows. The stench of burnt flesh was overwhelming and the cold night air was now heating up despite the rain. I glance around in hopes of catching sight of one of these creatures hiding within the trees, and sure enough, I soon locked eyes with one of them.

Demonic. That was the best way I could describe the entity staring down at me. Ugly, and disfigured, the monstrosity I was looking at resemble something that was plucked directly from the underworld and placed on the surface to dry. It was clunked to the side of a tree, it’s elongated head and Amber colored eyes fixated on me. Generally, it was humanoid in appearance. With the obvious main differences being its abnormally slender arms which ended in razor sharp clause, a body which was covered in some kind of burnt and rusted armor, and the pair of dragon wings connected to its back. A Dragon knight. Those were going to be a problem.

Glancing back over to Akuno, I lowered my blade and took a step back. I needed a moment to think. A single Dragon knight on its own wasn’t really an issue. A well-trained swordsman in fireproof armor might be able to stop one. But when they come in groups of 20 or more, they become a serious problem. And from the way things were looking, I was quickly being surrounded by not less than 50 and counting. And although on a normal day this wasn’t supposed to be an issue for me to handle, I still couldn’t afford to kill or operate at full strength. So, things for me were about to get really rough.

“What seems to be the problem samurai?” Akuno ask from her sitting position, still glaring at me, still smiling. “Your hands are shaking.” She said, causing me to glance down and find that my hands were indeed, starting to shake again. I tried to relax my mind and steady my breathing. But it was no use. The Ghost in my head was excited at the prospect of the pending battle, and I was all but certain that the next time I swing a sword to attack, it would be the voice in my head who swung it. Not me.

Just then, without warning, a sharp pain suddenly shot through my skull causing me to stumble on my feet. The whispers in my head started to intensify as some parts of my body began to tingle and go numb. First were my legs. Then my arms. Then my chest, shoulders, and face. My entire body was vibrating and it felt like my insides were starting to boil.

“You know what we want.” Akuno said. “You know what we came for.” she added, stealing a glance at the spirit sword in my right hand which I could no longer feel myself holding. “Give it to us samurai. And there will be no need for fighting.” She lifted her other hand up, and the wings of a thousand dragon knights hiding within the shadows spread opened in response. “Refuse.” she continued. “And today, will be, the day, you die.” With her raised hand, she lifted a finger and drew a circle in the air. In response, some of the demonic creatures taking cover within the trees took to the sky’ and began circling the forest above me, screeching and growling as they swarmed. And in that moment, all I could do was watch.

Despite my efforts to resist, I was no longer in control. I had become a spectator. A second thought. A bystander in my own body. I couldn’t even think. Thoughts of death, destruction, and revenge quickly flooded My mind and fueled my focus. I only wanted to kill.

“So, what will it be?” Akuno finally asked after a short time had passed with neither of us saying anything. And as a reply, I watched as my body lifted the spirit sword from my side and leveled it at Akuno’s face once more.

“Very well.” Akuno sighed, lowering her arm and drawing a sweeping line around her neck. Then, the entire night erupted with chaos as waves of fire breathing dragon knights dove down towards me. The last thing I remember from that moment was looking up and feeling a surge of energy traveling up my arm from the hilt of my sword, along my elbow, and into my chest. And as the Dragon knights drew closer from above, I smiled as the insides of my eyes turned black as a giant plume of fire Rushed towards my face.

That was when I woke up.

Screaming.

I immediately rose up from bed and began patting myself down, trying to put out the fire. But I could still feel a weight on me. I soon realized it was just my blanket covering my legs, So I hastily pushed it off me and kicked it aside, jumping out of bed and falling onto the floor in the process. Still rushing to put out the flames I began rolling back and forth on the carpet, desperately hoping that I wasn’t being burnt alive. But then, after rolling around on the floor a couple more times and patting myself down some more, I soon realize that there was nothing.

There were no flames. There was no smoke. There was no fire. I wasn’t burning. I was just Slumped against the foot of my bed, in my room, and freaking out from the dream I just had.

My heart was racing. My breathing was tensed. I was sweating. And my head was pounding. With the former three I guessed were as a result of the nightmare I just experienced, while the latter I was certain was as a result of Me falling off the bed.

“Ugh.” I groaned, placing my palm on my forehead and closing my eyes. I briefly allowed myself to relieve a few snapshots of the dream I just had, reminding myself that it was just that. A dream. Nothing else. I’ve been having them ever since I was 9, and they only seemed to be getting worse. If I wasn’t being chased by some kind of monster in the forest, then I’m being hunted down by some kind of spirit, or killed by demonic beings. The whole thing was just exhausting.

I eventually opened my eyes after resting a little bit then got off the ground to go splash my face with water. The water was cold. My reflection in the bathroom mirror after lifting my head up to stare directly at the thing, was rather normal. No scrapes, no bruises, no burns, no black eyes. Also, I wasn’t an old man. I left the bathroom feeling a lot relaxed, but the moment I walked back into my room and sighted the time on my alarm clock, I nearly had a heart attack. It was 8: 25. School started in 10 minutes.

I ran back to the bathroom and stripped down including my underwear then got into the shower. When I was done, I got out, hastily dried my hair, and went to go brush my teeth with a towel wrapped around my waist. It was in this process when I thought I heard hushed whispers coming from within the bathroom behind me, which immediately caused the hairs on the back of my neck to stand on end. But after turning around and finding no one there, I realized that I was only hearing things because I hadn’t taken my medication for that morning. So, I did.

Five minutes later I was in my uniform, out of the house, and on my way to school. I didn’t even eat breakfast. I was already off to a shitty day thanks to the awful morning I had, and the depressing gray color of the cloudy sky wasn’t really helping to better improve my mood. It looked like it was going to rain. Down below however, the rest of the city was starting to come alive with activities. Traders and local businessmen were starting to open up shops, and the roads were packed with vehicles on their way to work. I got a few side glances from people and neighbors who knew me, with some of them even going as far as to shut their doors and windows and pretend as if they did not see me. One woman in particular, immediately drew her daughter closer to her side when she saw me approaching in their direction down the sidewalk. However, I simply ignored all of them as usual and just walked past.

“You have one new message from Teenyma. “My phone buzzed with a notification shortly after I had finished crossing an intersection. Reaching into my pocket, I pulled it out then swiped upwards to unlock the screen. Although it was a singular message from Teenyma, the app indicated that she was still typing. For some reason, I enjoyed imagining her voice in my head while I read her messages.

“Hey!” the first message read.

“What’s up?” the second one said.

“You at school yet? “The last one read.

I adjusted the handle of my backpack which was slumped against my right shoulder and began to reply.

“On. My. Way.” Send.

She replied an instant later with a fearful emoji. “What! What happened?”

“Woke. Up. A bit. Late. Lost. Track. Of time.” Send.

“Let me guess.” she replied. “Skipped breakfast”

“Yes.” I responded

As a reply, she first sent a pouty face emoji before attaching a message at the bottom. “All right. Just make sure you get something to eat during free period. And don’t forget to drop by the house after school. Understood?” she added, attaching a girly light skinned teddy bear in an officer’s uniform at the end of the message.

“Yes mam!” I finally replied, sending along an emoji of a sweaty teddy bear wiping his brow. It was the closest thing to a salute I could find.

She laughed. Sending back three rolling on the floor laughing emoji. “All right.” she finally replied. “See you later.”

2.

When I finally got to school, I checked my wrist watch and I was only 12 minutes late. If I was lucky, first period wouldn’t have started yet. I walked in through the front gates and joined a sea of students that had just finished morning assembly and were now moving towards their classrooms. Fortunately, none of the teachers saw me. We went up a flight of stairs and began marching into the building, with some of the students still chatting with one another from the assembly. However, as soon as I stepped into the hallway, almost the entire room fell silent and most students who had been stuffing supplies into their lockers stopped and turned to stare at me.

The awkward silence only lasted for a few seconds but it felt like a minute. It was unbearable. Every student in the hallway had their eyes on me, and like always, I hated how it made me feel. I closed my eyes and drew in a deep breath. Then, after waiting a few milliseconds to settle my nerves, I exhaled before opening my eyes and proceeded to walk pass everyone. Soon enough, some of the students lost interest and went back to minding their own business while others continue to stare. And with each student I walked by, I could hear gossip rising up from behind me about my past.

Four hours later and I was nose-deep in school work, eagerly counting down the remaining hours until closing. It was a pretty slow day and the heavy rain now pouring outside only made things all that more depressing. The skies outside were still the same dull color as my soul, and the roof and windows rattled with every thunder strike. The inside of the classroom was illuminated by the harsh glow from a very irritating fluorescent bulb, and every facet of my being itched to climb up a desk and simply pull the thing out of its socket. But then a blinding flash filled the entire room and another loud thunder strike finally plunged the entire class into semi darkness. Suddenly, the cold and dimmed atmosphere became a lot more conducive.

It also meant we could no longer read or copy what was being written on the board, so everybody just started chilling at this point. Including the professor.

“Hey, freak! Get up!”

A gruff angry voice called out for my attention and I sighed recognizing who it belonged to.

“Get up freak!”

I had my head resting on the top of my desk and I had no intentions of acknowledging the idiot that was trying to get my attention.

“Hey, freak! I’m talking to you, aren’t I? Don’t ignore me!” Haru growled, no doubt his face starting to redden from pure rage and annoyance.

“Aha.” I finally replied, my voice muffled as I still had my head resting on the top of my desk.

Haru then grabbed me by the back of my collar and pulled me up forcefully. “I said do not ignore me!” He growled into my face.

“Sorry.” I finally replied. “I didn’t think you were talking to me.” I lied, shifting my gaze toward the front of the class. A bunch of students were chatting, others were staring in our direction, But the professor was seated at his desk reading a book in the dimmed lighting. He couldn’t give two shits about what was going on in the back.

“And why would you think I was not talking to you freak huh?” Haru’s voice cut through the air like a bullet and tore through my right ear drum, turning my attention away from the front of the class. “Are there any other freaks in this class now too? Are you finally starting up a club or a cult for freaks?” Haru was big. Easily four times my size. And that’s just his muscles. He was the kind of kid you take one look at and conclude that he was probably going to excel in the army, so keeping your confrontations as verbal as possible is always advisable.

Finally deciding that enough was enough, I glared up at him, locking my icy stare with his. “What do you want?” I asked, my voice cold.

“What?” Haru through his head back laughing. “Can’t a guy just come say hi to his friend every once in a while?”

I didn’t reply.

Haru stopped laughing and leaned in closer. The strong scent from his irritating cologne filling my nostrils.

“So, tell me freak.” he said, his face inches away from mine. “How did you do it? How did you break out of prison?”

He stared at me with a shit eating grin on his face, eagerly waiting for a reply. “How does a weak minded, pathetic, scrawny little brat like you beat up a hundred or so policemen, and guards, and then simply walk out of prison. Because I know that’s what you did. Is it that right?” His eyes were squinted. Angry. And his forced smile had faded into an easy familiar frown.

I sighed and lowered my face as I closed my eyes. But chose to remain silent.

“Oh, come on man,” Haru said, also lowering his gaze in disappointment. “That’s what happened right? That’s what you did right?” His voice was a hundred notches much higher at this point, and my silence was only making him more desperate and frustrated by the second. “I mean that’s got to be it right?” he asked, looking directly at me. “That’s got to be it.”

A little moment passed before he continued speaking.

“Yeah.” he said, leaning back to stand at his full height while reassuring himself. “Somehow, you were able to activate your freak powers and then break out of prison.” He crossed his arms then lifted a hand up to stroke his chin. “After that, you somehow utilize the same abilities to fool everyone and also convince the judge that you were innocent and not a psychopathic mass murderer who killed…”

“I am not a murderer!” I shot opened my eyes in anger and yelled out, suddenly cutting Haru off.

The whole class suddenly fell silent. Everyone was staring. Even the professor had stopped what he was doing and was now looking at the both of us. I didn’t even really know what I was doing. My body reacted faster than my mind was able to think. I was standing now. Glaring at Haru. My hands balled up into fists, my face frozen in an annoyed scowl.

“I am not a murderer!” I repeated. The entire class still silent.

“I am not now, and I never was. Got that?” I asked, still glaring at Haru.

“I am not a murderer!” I added, once more for clarification. I didn’t even know why I was still shouting. I was not a murderer. I knew I wasn’t. But why was I still trying to convince myself after so long.

The entire classroom was so quiet You could have heard a pin drop. The only sounds came from the gentle rain pouring outside and the occasional distant rumble of thunder. The students were still staring in our direction, so was the professor. And after sometime had passed, Haru finally spoke.

“But you are.” he said, his voice calm as if he were simply stating a fact. Even the muscles in his face were now relaxed. “You are sick, you are unwell, and you are dangerous. And it’s only a matter of time before you hurt someone else.” Haru turned to leave but then stopped to look back over his shoulder at me.

“Word of advice.” he said. “Everybody knows the truth of what you really are. So, you would be better off back in that little cell of yours. Nobody wants you here.” And with that said, he left.

He went back to his seat on the opposite side of the classroom’, where he was quickly joined by several other students who I guess, went over to comfort him. Exhausted, I plopped back down on my seat then lifted my head up to stare at the ceiling. I couldn’t believe I was once best friends with the guy. But I was too tired to think about anything in that moment, so I just turned my head to the side to look out the window instead. The skies were still a dull gray and drops of rain continued rolling down my window. At some point I began hearing whispers again emanating from somewhere at the back of my head, So I took out my medication and swallowed a few pills with a sip of water. Honestly, I did not even care that the rest of the class saw. Haru especially. I was not sick. I was not a murderer. And I was not a freak. But, deep down, some small part of me knew for a fact this wasn’t entirely true.

Leaning back in my seat to continue gazing out the window, I soon made out a figure in the rain. A bird. Perched on the rooftop of an opposite building. It was a really strange looking creature. Its feathers were disheveled, soaked, and blacker than the color of night itself. Its beak and claws were pointed and sharp, and its entire body possessed some kind of silky black sheen. The only part of the creature that wasn’t black were its eyes. They were yellow. Or maybe a very bright orange. I couldn’t really tell exactly what color its eyes were from that distance, But I did know for certain that it was looking in my direction. Almost as if it was staring at me.

3.

Six hours later and school was finally over. Although it was still very much raining outside, I was able to secure an umbrella from the school’s student supply, same with a few other students who hadn’t brought umbrellas of their own. I was standing in front of the school’s main building, a little over to the side of the entrance So as to not obstruct the other staffs and students who were pouring out of the building. The time on my wrist watch red 5:30, but the weather outside could have easily fooled anyone into thinking it was well past 6 pm.

I reached for my phone inside of my backpack and was horrified when I discovered that it was switched off. The battery had ran out. While in class, I could feel it constantly vibrating as Teenyma left me multiple missed calls and voicemails most likely wanting to find out why I hadn’t arrived at her apartment two hours past the time I said I would. After the generators were powered on, the school issued an additional two hours to every class in order to make up for lost time while the power was out. I quietly cursed myself for not charging my phone before going to bed the night before, then I stuffed my phone into my pocket and lifted the umbrella I was holding above my head and prepared to leave. However, as I began moving down the small flight of stairs in front of me, the sound of rapid approaching footsteps coming from the main hall behind me caused me to hesitate and stop for a moment.

“Excuse me!”

It was a girl’s voice.

“Please! Wait up!” she said, running to catch up with me.

I was momentarily stunned by the situation. I still had my back towards this person, as I wasn’t entirely sure whether they were talking to me. Even though I was the only one left standing just outside the school’s main building, there was no chance She was actually trying to get my attention. It was most likely since my back was to her and she couldn’t see my face, she must have been mistaking me for some random student.

The footsteps finally came to a stop just behind me. Whoever the girl was, she had caught up to me but was now speechless as she took a second to catch her breath. I still held the umbrella over my head, as I wasn’t ready for her to recognize who I was just yet. I wanted to see if she had an idea of who she was talking to.

“Hey. Thanks for holding up.” she said, still trying to catch her breath. “I just checked the student supply closet, and they are no umbrellas left. “She finally was able to somewhat steady her breathing, before she continued speaking. “I’m glad there was still someone left on campus, I honestly thought I’d have to run under the rain to get home.” There was a little pause as she waited for me to say something, but I chose to remain quiet. “So,” she said. “I was wondering if perhaps, we could walk home together.”

I was quiet for a little while longer, allowing her question to linger in the air as the sound of rainfall filled the void around us. Just as I thought, she had no idea I was the one she was talking to, otherwise if she did, I doubt she would even be willing to approach me to begin with.

“I promise I don’t live very far from here.” she said, suddenly thinking that I was probably contemplating on declining her offer to share the umbrella which, was the last thing I was thinking of. In truth, I was actually thinking of a way we could share the thing without her ever seeing enough of my face to recognize me. But the more time I spent trying to think of a solution, the more the poor girl became convinced I was stalling with the silent treatment as a sign that I didn’t want to share the umbrella.

So, she apologized.

“I’m sorry.” she said. “It was a terrible idea; I’m just going to wait here for the rain to stop. I’m sorry for wasting your time.” The sound of receding footsteps told me she had turned around and was now walking away. And not wanting to potentially give her an even worse impression of me, I quickly spoke up

“Hey, wait.” I said, finally deciding on what to do to help her. I turned around with my gaze to the ground, then went back up the flight of stairs to stand beside her. I took in a deep breath as I mentally prepared myself for her reaction at seeing my face. Then, as I turned around to face her, I lowered the umbrella and collapsed its canopy, handing it over to her.

“Here.” I said, giving her the umbrella.

For a second, everything was right with the world. As I had my hand stretched out waiting for her to take the umbrella for me, I got a good look at the mystery girl who wanted to walk home from school with me.

She was cute.

Extremely cute.

She had thick, curly, caramel hair, and her large eyes were wide and expressive. She was pale in complexion, and she was dressed in the standard blazer and skirt all girls at our school dressed in. She was a little smaller than me in terms of our height difference, but I recognize her from being in the same grade as I was, just not in my class.

In that moment, so many things went through my head. How we were eventually going to become friends, How I was eventually going to ask her out on a date. How I was going to eventually propose to her just as we were about to finish college, and how we were going to start a family with kids that hopefully took after her in terms of beauty and mannerisms. I was like this for what felt like a lifetime. Stuck in my head and daydreaming about a girl I only just met. But I didn’t want to stop. Imagining a future for myself that was filled with so much happiness and joy, it was just so intoxicating I never wanted it to end. But then my arm started to get tired, and to my horror, I realized something. She hadn’t taken the umbrella from me.

I had been holding it out towards her for quite some time but she didn’t so much as budge, let alone reach out to take it from me. She could clearly see my face now, and the second she recognized me as the guy everyone at school considered to be a psycho killer freak, her eyes lit up in shock, and she started to slowly back away from me.

“Wait, no. it’s okay. “I hastily said, trying to take control of the situation and possibly get her to calm down. But she didn’t stop moving away from me, and the more I tried, the more she panicked and kept on backing away from me.

It wasn’t until her back was pressed against a wall that she finally stopped, having nowhere else to go. Even so, the fear in her eyes were raw and primal, and her entire body was shaking like a leaf. She looked like she was about to break at the slightest touch, And I hated that I made her feel that way. She was also mumbling something. “Stay back. Stay away from me.” she said, her voice trembling with fear.

I stopped trying to move closer to her and instead took a couple steps back. I wanted to show I meant no harm, so I slowly and gradually set the umbrella on the ground in front of me, before slowly and gradually lifting my hands up in the air as if I was being arrested.

“Look. “I said. “I’m not going to hurt you. Just please, take the umbrella and leave. You can have it.”

I waited for some kind of response but she did not reply. She just remained standing in the corner, body still violently vibrating as if she was staring at the devil himself.

“My sister doesn’t live far from here at all.” I continued, still trying to get her to trust me enough to grab the umbrella and leave. “So, I should be able to make it to her house without getting soaked if I run really fast.”

I waited for her to come pick up the umbrella, but she still wasn’t moving. Suddenly, I had the bright and dumb idea to kick it over to her, and the second I did so, she took off screaming like a banshee and running into the rain, never once looking over her shoulder in fear that the psycho killer freak, me, might be right behind her.

Standing there and watching her leave, some part of me wished that she was hopefully running the right way home and wouldn’t get lost. The other part of me, as I walked forward and bent down to pick up the umbrella, felt a little deflated. I already knew most people didn’t like me, and absolutely wanted nothing to do with me. That for the most part, was glaringly obvious. But I never knew the public disdain towards me went so far, that a person would rather choose potentially falling sick by running unprotected in the rain, over accepting a helping hand from me.

4.

Eventually, I was back on route to Teenyma’s apartment. She really did live in trekking distance from campus so getting there on foot was not going to be an issue. I was roughly 2 minutes into my journey when I found myself temporarily forgetting about the girl and instead remembering a few of Haru’s statements from earlier. The part when he called me a freak. The part when he accused me of murder. And the part when he called me his friend. Obviously calling me his friend was clearly fake. Yet, I couldn’t help but wonder how quickly things went sour between us, after what, four five years of friendship?

My memory of our time together as kids came in form of a flashback. We were both inseparable six-year-olds having the time of our lives. We did everything together. We played together, ate lunch together, and even had sleepovers at each other’s houses basically all the time. We always made up whenever we had a fight, and we always stood up for each other whenever some of the other kids wanted to pick a fight with one of us. We weren’t perfect in any way. But we were a team. However, as soon as we turn ten, on that faithful day, everything went to shit.

It was supposed to be a joint birthday party. But somehow, somewhere, things did not go as planned. I remembered someone screaming. I remembered seeing blood on the floor. I remembered seeing blood on my clothes. And I remembered seeing blood on the knife I apparently was holding, but did not remember carrying. I also remembered seeing bodies on the floor as well. Haru’s mother included. As well as the body of my mother, father, sister, and a few of our then neighbors and their kids. They were everywhere. After that, I remember being confused, scared, and sick to my stomach. Then I remembered throwing the knife away and fighting back tears as I rushed to go try and wake my parents and little sister up. They never did.

When I finally got to the street that led up to Teenyma’s apartment it was well past 6 pm. Thanks to the cloudy weather it was pretty much dark at this point, with rows of street lamps illuminating the roads and buildings on either side. Her house was located on the 4th floor of a high-rise multi-unit complex, which was the third building on the street. And when I made my way inside, up an elevator, and into her floor, I rounded the corner and found a young blonde woman standing outside her home, dressed in a loose fitting dark blue baggy hoodie with a pair of white shorts and sneakers. Her hair was tied up in a rough bun at the back, with a few strands escaping to fall across the front side of her forehead as she stood peering over her balcony at the streets below.

For a second, I considered clearing my throat to startle her a bit. Then I considered clapping my hands together to make her jump. Then I considered sneaking up behind her and placing a hand on her shoulder to really frighten her. I couldn’t quite decide on how best to playfully announce that I was right behind her, so I thought against it. Plus, I also couldn’t tell if she was in a playful mood or not, so it was probably best I didn’t try it in the first place.

“Teenyma?” I finally called out to her as softly as I could, and she immediately lifted her head up from the balcony and turned in my direction.

“Hiroshi?” she replied, speaking softly as well. “Is that, is that really you?” she asked, her eyelids heavy, her face tired. Was she not feeling well?

“Yeah. It’s me.” I replied, taking a step towards her and starting to get a little worried.

“Hey, Teenyma.” I said, letting the closed umbrella I held in my right-hand clatter to the floor. “Are you okay?” I reached out with my right hand towards her, my arm shaking. “Did something happen?”

She sniffled. Then nodded.

My eyes shot open in horror as my heart dropped. I was silent for a moment.

If there were two things I hated the most in this world, it was the way most people treated me like I was some kind of disease, and witnessing Teenyma being upset. The first one I can handle on most days no problem. But the second, something within me just breaks whenever I Saw Teenyma in such a state.

“Teenyma.” I said, my voice cold, My face dead serious. “Tell me. What happened?”

Opting to remain silent, Teenyma instead began walking towards me, her steps slowed, her sneakers quiet on the concrete floor. When she was finally standing in front of me, a head shorter than me, she spoke.

“If I tell you what happened, would you help me to fix it?” she asked, her voice soft, her face still sad.

“Yes.” I replied, hoping that she sensed the seriousness in my tone.

“That’s good.” she replied, looking around a bit before squatting to pick up the umbrella I had dropped on the floor. “That, is good.” she repeated, standing back up and flashing me a smile with her eyes closed.

Suddenly I felt like I had misread the situation.

“Now.” she said, “are you ready to hear all about what happened?” she asked, her eyes still closed, her lips still curved up in a smile.

“Yeah,” I replied hesitantly. “But…”

I did not see the first swing coming until it was too late.

“What the hell is wrong with you?!”

The middle part of the umbrella connected with the top of my forehead as a now very angry faced Teenyma began venting all of her frustrations on me. Obviously I was not going to stand idly by to get beaten with an umbrella, so I immediately took off running before she could land anymore hits.

“Hey! Where do you think you are going? I’m not done with you!” Teenyma took off running after me round the entire floor, steaming and venting while she tried to hit me. “I’ve been worried sick waiting for you the entire afternoon. I didn’t realize you were going to take your sweet time coming here. Do you know how worried I was! I thought maybe you died or got kidnapped or something. And where did you put your phone? I kept messaging, and calling, I even sent a couple voicemails.” At this point I tried defending myself by claiming that my phone was switched to silent mode while I was in class, which was true, but Teenyma was not having any of it. “Even if your phone was in silent mode,” she continued. “Did you not simply look at your phone after class?! Don’t you have eyes to do that huh?!” it was a good point but I totally ran out of battery. “Hey!” she continued yelling. “Get back here! I swear you will not send me to an early grave because I am constantly worrying about you. Hey! I said get back here!”

5. Haru.

Sakuto national hospital was the biggest healthcare facility in the entire city. It was also the name of the hospital Haru had given the taxi driver whose vehicle he was now stepping out of. He flicked open his umbrella once outside the cab and held it over his head. Then he reached back into the vehicle and grabbed the bouquet of fresh tied up roses.

“All right.” he said to the driver, speaking a bit loud so his voice could carry over the sound of the rain. “I’ve got the flowers. You can go now. Thanks.” He pushed the door shut then step back as the man proceeded to pull out of parking and drove off into the night.

Haru clutched the roses tightly to his chest then turned to stare at the massive building with over 500 rooms with illuminated windows, his eyes instinctively settling on the 10th floor. For almost 9 years he had constantly visited room 409 without fail. Sometimes once a week, sometimes twice, and sometimes more. And he wasn’t looking to break that tradition anytime soon, as doing that would mean that he was abandoning her. And unlike his father, he was never going to do that.

Moving into the hospital, Haru made his way over to the receptionist where he gave his name and stated his Business.

“Haru Okazaki.” he said. “Visiting Deborah Okazaki.”

“All right one moment.” the lady on the opposite side of the counter said to him, confirming his identity. After which, she then picked out a key from a drawer and said, “okay would you please follow me this way sir.”

When they finally got to room 409, the lady unlocked the door and held it open for Haru to walk in. Then, still clutching the door handle, the receptionist asked.

“Will you be leaving early today sir or will you be staying for your normal hours?”

“Normal hours.” Haru replied, turning to face her. “If it’s no trouble please.”

“Absolutely no trouble.” the lady said. “I’ll let her doctors know that you are around in case you want to speak with them.”

“Thank you.” Haru responded, nodding his head in appreciation.

“Oh, don’t thank me.” the lady said smiling, her eyes closed. “It’s my job after all.”

A minute later Haru was standing alone in his mother’s hospital room after the receptionist lady had closed the door and left. The place was dimly lit and quiet, with the only sound being that of the gentle humming of the AC unit and the near silent wheezing of a life support machine. Deeper within the room was a section that was closed off with blue screen curtains, which was where the silent beeping of the life support machine was coming from. It was also where his mother lay unconscious, stuck in a coma for almost a decade.

Still carrying the bag of fresh roses, Haru propped his umbrella by the door and moved towards the curtains. He swept the curtains aside and saw his mother in the same state she had always been for the past 9 years. Asleep. Her face was to the ceiling, her nose and mouth were covered with a transparent blue mask that helped her breathe. Her body from the lower part of her chest down to her legs were wrapped in a blanket, but both her arms were outside and stretched out by her side.

She was dressed in a hospital gown.

There was a drip system that was connected to the back of one of her hands, and Haru hoped that the colorless liquid would soon be swapped out for a fresh bag as the one he was looking at was half empty.

“Hey ma.” Haru said, reaching out his free hand to hold his mother by the Palm. “I brought you flowers.” His voice was calm and relaxed, unlike the Haru most people knew at school. He briefly let go of her hand in order to set the bag of fresh roses on the floor, so he could begin swapping out the dried ones sitting in a pot on the coffee table beside the bed with the ones he had bought. And as soon as he was done with that, he pulled up a chair that was sitting in the corner and sat beside his mother.

Haru didn’t really say much to his mother after that. He just sat there keeping her company, and occasionally giving her hand a little squeeze so that she’d know he was there. His mind however, was a different story. He thought about what his mother must be feeling in that moment, he thought about how his father had essentially moved on from his mother and was no longer visiting. Then he eventually thought on why his mother was stuck in a coma in the first place, and he immediately got riled up just thinking about it.

“He did this.” Haru would always tell himself, just as he did in that very moment. “It was him, that freak. He is the reason you are in this bed right now.” He would continue to talk not really focusing on anything or anyone until inevitably, he mentally gets transported to the day it happened. To the day his former best friend slaughtered an entire neighborhood and almost killed his mother.

The day always started out the same way in his head. With him and Hiroshi standing in the kitchen and staring at the large circular shaped birthday cake their parent had gotten them. It was decorated with so many designs and the mix of pink and sky blue made it look quite nice. It also had the frosting in a similar shade, and at the center of the cake was written, “Haru and Hiroshi.” With a giant number 10 written at the bottom of the names.

“Woooow!” Hiroshi had exclaimed. “It looks so good. I got to have a taste.” But before Hiroshi could dash over to grab a spoon, Haru had quickly grabbed him by his shirt’s collar keeping him stationary.

“Hold on Hiroshi.” Haru had said to his best friend who was desperately still trying to run free of his grasp to grab a spoon. “We just have to wait a couple more minutes then we can eat alright? So just relax, okay?” Hiroshi struggled some more but eventually complied and calm down.

“So, what are you going to wish for when they add the candles?” Hiroshi had asked Haru after a little while had gone by with them doing nothing but standing around and looking at the cake.

“That’s a good question.” Haru had said, crossing his arms and stroking his chin. “Well, I am going to wish that my parents finally get me that new game I have been asking for. It comes with twin controller so we will be able to play together right off the bat!” Haru smiled, closing his eyes at the thought. “How about you? “Haru ask Hiroshi. “What is your wish going to be about?”

Haru had not immediately gotten an answer like he expected. Instead, he opened his eyes in confusion, and found a shoulder slumped Hiroshi standing beside him with his head lowered. He was about to ask him what the problem was when Hiroshi finally spoke up.

“My wish,” Hiroshi had said, his voice almost a whisper. “Will be for all my nightmares to go away.”

“What? Nightmares? “Haru had asked, a bit taken aback. “What kind of birthday wish is that? What nightmares are you even talking about?”

“All of them.” Hiroshi had simply replied. “All of them. “He repeated, still standing in that slumped posture of his.

Haru had no real clue on how to respond to what his friend had said, so he turned his attention away from the conversation and stared into the living room where most of their neighbors, friends, and family had gathered to celebrate them.

“I think we should head back. “Haru then suggested to Hiroshi. “They are waiting for us.” With that, Haru turned to head out of the kitchen but Hiroshi did not follow.

Haru then stopped and turn back. “Hiroshi? you coming?” he asked, waiting on his friend.

But Hiroshi did not reply. He remained standing. Unmoving. Shoulder still slumped; head still faced down staring at the cake.

“Hiroshi, are you okay?” Cautiously, Haru walked towards him and placed a hand on Hiroshi’s shoulder. “Hey, don’t you hear me talking to you? why are you acting weird?” But Hiroshi still did not reply.

Starting to get worried about his friend, Haru then spun Hiroshi around so he was now facing him. And what Haru saw soon after, almost stopped his heart.

Hiroshi’s eyes were black.

Completely black.

Not only that, but they appeared to be much wider as well.

Hiroshi wasn’t blinking, he didn’t appear to be breathing, and his lips were moving rapidly in some form of quiet whisper.

Haru in that moment, could not understand what he was looking at. He only knew he had to quickly get out of there and go get help for his friend. But before he could do so, Hiroshi suddenly stood up right causing Haru to quickly let go of his shoulder and step back in shock. Then, slowly, Hiroshi reached a hand out and picked up the knife that was resting on the table beside the cake.

Now clutching the knife in his right hand, Hiroshi continued staring at Haru with those deep black eyes, never blinking, never speaking. Then, out of nowhere, Hiroshi stopped whispering and said the word, “自由” (Jiyu.) Before instantly vanishing into thin air.

But he did not really vanish.

Hiroshi was just somehow able to move so fast that Haru was unable to keep track of him with his eyes. The only reason Haru even knew Hiroshi had passed by him was the gust of wind that he felt as Hiroshi dashed by him and shot straight into the living room. What came next were the sounds of bodies dropping to the floor as Haru quickly rushed over to the living room where it was now silent for some reason. And as soon as he got there, his eyes went wide at the scene.

There was blood everywhere. On the floor. On the couch. On the walls. Everywhere. Bodies also littered the scene. The neighbors and their kids. Hiroshi’s parents. Hiroshi’s sister. And Haru’s mother. They had all been stabbed, sliced opened, and slaughtered. The only person who was left alive was Hiroshi himself, who was standing on the opposite side of the living room. His head was lowered, the front part of his shirt soaked in blood, and the knife he was holding was now soaked and dripping a deep crimson.

Haru was speechless after that. The only thing he could do was scream, scream, and scream until eventually someone outside heard him, and the entire front part of the house was blocked off by police cruisers and emergency vehicles. Hiroshi was cuffed and taken away in the back of one of the police cruisers, and all of the bodies were gathered up and placed in the back of the available ambulances. They were all pronounced dead-on arrival, all of them except for one. Haru’s mother.

Haru was still seated by his mother’s bedside when One of her doctors opened the door and walked in. She was a middle-aged woman with short brown hair, dressed in a white coat with a pair of blue jeans underneath. Haru immediately got to his feet and went to meet up with her halfway across the room. And after exchanging pleasantries, the doctor then proceeded to give Haru the sit-rep on his mother’s health.

“Deborah is doing just fine here with us. Sakuto is providing her with the best treatment available 24/7. You don’t need to worry about a single thing. She is in the best hands. However, as you are aware, Deborah’s condition is not something she can easily recover from. If it was, it would have happened by now and not take this long. As you know, most of the injuries to her body and major arteries have all healed. But the damage to her brain is extremely severe. Honestly, it’s a miracle she’s alive let alone surviving for this long. Most people with her case don’t usually make it as far as she has. She’s a fighter. But as for whether or not she is going to wake up anytime soon, unfortunately, I don’t think that will ever be a possibility. Like I said, the damage to her brain is extremely severe. She lost a lot of blood on the day of the incident, that alone caused irreparable damage to essential brain tissue. She may never wake up. However, that doesn’t mean we should lose hope. Miracles do happen after all. And it may be the reason She stayed alive for all these years is because she is waiting for just that. Her miracle.”

Haru took in all of what the doctor had said, feeling a little empty at the end of her report. It wasn’t that he no longer kept up hope, it was just that he had been doing so for more than 9 years and the reality of his mother truly never waking up again was starting to dawn on him. He continued to spend time with his mother even after the doctor had left. He mostly sat by her still occasionally squeezing her hand as she slept while also spending time working on his school work and assignments. He didn’t leave the hospital until 5 hours later. And when he finally got home, all he could think about, all he could allow his mind to ponder, all he wanted to dream about as he laid in bed prepared to sleep, were the multiple different ways he was going to force Hiroshi to pay for his crimes. For what he did to his mother. Because if the court wasn’t going to do it, and neither will the police, then he was going to take matters into his own hands. A monster like Hiroshi shouldn’t be left roaming the streets of society after all. Someone was going to have to put him down.

6.

Burnt out and exhausted, Teenyma finally gave up chasing me and returned to her floor, gently pressing her back against her front door and sliding down to sit on the ground. Realizing this, I climbed back up the stairwell I was initially using as my escape route then peered from a corner to find Teenyma just sitting there. Understanding that our little moment of silliness was now over, I stepped out fully from the corner then went to go sit beside her. We were both quiet for a little while, just watching the rain and the night sky overlooking the balcony, savoring the view, the sounds, and the feel of cold wind blowing across our faces. Then, already expecting it, Teenyma leaned in closer and rested her head on top of my shoulder. And after a little while, I rested my cheek against the top of her head.

“You know,” she started to say softly after a couple seconds had passed. “I really was starting to get worried when you didn’t show up at the time you specified. “There was a small flash of lightning. And a distant rumple of thunder. “I know it’s silly but I felt so alone. Like a repeat of what happened when we were kids.”

“I know you must have been worried.” I explained. “And I’m sorry for making you feel that way. It was just that the power went out at school so we had to stay an additional 2 hours after the generators had been fixed.”

“That sucked.” She said.

“Yeah, it did. “I replied. “But I’m really sorry I didn’t reach out to you afterwards. I just had a lot going through my mind at the time and…”

She placed a shushing hand on top of my lips. “I understand. And Apology accepted.” she said, retreating her hand from my lips and smiling. “But next time, you tell me when you are going to be running late okay? I don’t like to think that something bad might have happened to you.”

“Definitely. “I replied, “I will let you know first thing whenever I am going to be running late, or unable to make it for something in the future.”

“That’s good.” she said. “But you better not also make it a habit all right?” she added, pinching my arm a little.

“Yeah, okay, all right.” I laughed. “I promise.”

“You promise what?” She lifted her head up from my shoulder and asked while still pinching my arm.

“I promise not to make it a habit of running late.” I said, still laughing and smiling. “Now can you please let go of my arm? It is kind of starting to hurt.”

Teenyma stopped pinching me then leaned back in to continue resting her head on my shoulder. I, in turn, resumed resting the side of my head on hers. Moments past and we were still seated outside in front of her apartment. Then out of nowhere, she ambushed me with a question I was not at all ready for.

“So.” she said, “What did you have for lunch today?”

My eyes widened as my stomach suddenly dropped. I still hadn’t eaten anything. Not even breakfast. I had been swallowing medication all day on an empty stomach. Teenyma was going to kill me.

“So,” she repeated. “Tell me. What did you have for lunch?”

My eyes quickly darted around in search of the umbrella. I found it sitting beside her opposite from me. Then, with an awkward smile, I ask, “Can I please see that real quick? I think I may have just seen a cockroach and I would like to kill it before it gets into the apartment. “I lied, sweating profusely and hoping that Teenyma hands me the umbrella so I can throw it before admitting that I hadn’t eaten all day, despite her practically ordering me to have done so.

Teenyma suddenly lifted her head up from my shoulder again and turned to face me, a dark shadow suddenly falling across the top part of her face as she glared at me. “You still haven’t eaten, have you?” she asked, her voice dropping to a sinister level.

I briefly consider booking it before she got hold of the umbrella, but a slight tug on the inside of my elbow revealed that Teenyma had locked her arm in mine. I wasn’t going anywhere.

Flashing a nervous smile as that was the only thing I could do, I mentally and physically prepared myself as Teenyma’s hand slowly and inevitably reached for the umbrella sitting beside her. But instead of scolding me on the dangers of starvation and skipping meals, she simply drew in a deep breath, exhaled, then allowed the darkness to fade from her face and wrapped me in a tight hug.

I was genuinely surprised at her reaction. As kids, Teenyma had never brushed past an opportunity to slap my hand whenever I tried to pick something up that wasn’t mine, or yell at me whenever I need something stupid like forget to eat food. Being the youngest sibling in my mother’s family, she had always pride herself in the various roles She fulfilled within my life. Sometimes she was the cool, fun, level-headed modern aunt who in reality, was only like a year older than me. Other times, she was the selfless, caring, strict, ever loving mother figure who at the end of the day, was still just a teenager. But sometimes, I completely tend to forget she was also just Teenyma. My family. The only person that stuck by me even after the whole world had discarded me.

Snapping out of my momentary shock, I hugged her back. “Thank you for not smacking me with the umbrella.” I said.

“Whenever I hit you it’s to show I love you dummy.” she replied. “Now. Let’s go put some food in your belly.”

7.

10 minutes later and we were situated in Teenyma’s apartment. I was seated on a couch in the living room, flipping through the pages of a fashion magazine that purely featured Teenyma in different outfits, accessories, hairstyles, and poses. There was one where she was dressed as a school girl, another One where she was dressed in traditional Japanese attire. There was Even a whole section dedicated to her trying out different types of kimonos. And although she looked good in every single outfit she wore, most of my favorites if not all came from the kimono section.

“All, right, breakfast, lunch, and dinner are served.” Teenyma suddenly emerged from the kitchen carrying a large tray of food. She had on an apron tied around her waist and a large chef’s hat on the top of her head. She rounded the corner in front of me then came to sit on the couch beside me, setting the tray down between us.

The smell of the food was intoxicating. The sight of it was mesmerizing. But before immediately digging into the food however, I made sure to pay her a compliment.

“Hey, you look really good in these.” I said, lifting up the magazine and smiling.

“You really think so?” she replied, already munching on a sausage She had stabbed with her fork.

“Yeah, totally.” I said, opening back up the magazine to look at specific pages. “I mean most of these are clothes I haven’t seen you wear before but nevertheless, you still look really good in them. I’m sure these are selling like hotcakes. Your employers must be glad they hired you.”

“I mean I hope they are.” Teenyma replied, still munching on the sausage. “It’s not like that particular issue you’re holding sold a hundred thousand copies or anything.”

I almost coughed out the grape juice I was drinking.

“You’re kidding.” I said.

“Nope.” Teenyma replied, eyes closed, smiling, and still chewing her food. “I got a call from my manager this morning and she said that the magazine had sold over a hundred thousand copies and was quickly approaching two hundred. And get this. They only released like a week ago.”

“That’s incredible!” I said, my heart bubbling with joy. “That is freaking amazing. “I continued, wanting to praise her more than I was doing right then. I thought of what I could do to further show her that I was proud of her, so I dropped everything I was holding, got to my feet, and began applauding.

“This is for you Teenyma.” I said, as I began to slow clap for dramatic effect. “A standing ovation from your one and only proud nephew.”

Teenyma began smiling and blushing uncontrollably to the point where she almost spilled her oats on herself. Then she laughed and said, “sit down dummy and eat your food before it gets cold.”

Flashing her a smile, I did exactly as she asked. And after I began eating again, she briefly stopped eating and looked at me.

“Thank you.” she said. And the look in her eyes made me wish they were more people around, specifically more people from my family, to help congratulate her on her achievements. To see the successful, young woman she had become. But there was no one else in our lives. It was just the two of us. And a small part of me felt partly responsible for it being that way.

A couple minutes past and we were halfway done with our food as we continue chatting about other stuff. I told her about Haru and school, and she expressed her frustration by claiming that she would have punched someone in the face if she was there. She told me about work and the fashion industry, which somehow ended up with Teenyma promising to ask in a favor for her lead designer and stylist to help make me something. I initially thought she was joking, but she then picked up her phone and video called the lady who I guess was her designer. They asked me for an idea of what I wanted, and my descriptions were like a long coat jacket. Gray, or black. And a massive wide collar for the jacket. Then the lady on the phone who appeared to be taking notes asked me if a super villain aesthetic was what I was going for, and I was quite shocked at how perfectly she understood what I imagined.

My thought was, since Haru and the rest of the world saw me as some kind of super villain, then a super villain is what I become. At least in fashion choice that is.

We continued chatting and soon enough, our conversations inevitably shifted into a territory I had been wanting to avoid the entire night.

“So how are you feeling?” Teenyma asked, drastically shifting our conversation into a more serious one. She had both her legs folded and tucked under her on the couch, and she had an arm resting across the head of the couch. She had some time removed her apron and chef’s hat and was now back to wearing her dark blue hoodie and white shorts. We were somewhat done with our food at this point, so I simply Drew in a deep breath and relaxed into the seat.

“Good.” I replied, a hint of melancholy in my tone.

“Are you sure?” Teenyma asked, catching wind of the obvious melancholy in my tone. Her eyes were wide and sad, and the look on her face were those of worry and concern. “What about the medication? Are they helping?”

“Yeah.” I said, trying to be as vague as possible so she doesn’t start to get unnecessarily even more worried for no reason. But Teenyma being the ever concerned, ever bothered mother figure that she mostly was, saw right through me.

“What do you mean?” she asked softly.

I was hesitant at first. I did not want to say anything. Teenyma was the only person in the entire world who did not see me as some kind of monster. As some kind of freak. However, whenever I did tell her about my problems, whenever I did tell her about the not so normal stuff that sometimes happened to me, I feared eventually all of that would change and she might inevitably start to pull away from me.

“Hey.” Teenyma reached out and took my hand in hers, giving it a little squeeze. “I’m here alright?” she said. “I’m not going anywhere. So, take your time and tell me whatever you want to tell me. And if you don’t want to say anything right now, that’s fine too.”

I exhaled in relief.

Honestly, I didn’t even know why I was busy thinking the way I did. Teenyma had been the only one who stuck by me ever since we were kids, ever since the nightmares and whispers first began. If there was ever a chance for her to leave or dissociate herself from me, it should have happened years ago. But it never happened. Because she didn’t.

Even after I was convicted and charged with first degree murder, even after I was accused to have slaughtered an entire neighborhood including my own family, Teenyma never once left my side. Not after I was sent to junior prison, not after I was eventually transported to a heavily guarded military asylum. Not even after her adopted parents had tried to separate us by forbidden her from ever visiting me while I was in confinement. Teenyma had always stood by me and would come visit me every month for the past 9 years while I was stuck in that hell hole by myself with no one to talk to.

Remembering all of this, I took in a deep breath, exhaled, then proceeded to tell her everything.

I told her about the nightmare I had that morning, I told her about the whispers and how they were starting to become more frequent again. I also told her how I was somehow starting to make out certain words and phrases from within the whispers where in the past I hadn’t been able to. There was only that one time when I thought I could make out clearly what the whispers were saying, but it was shortly before my 10th birthday and it had been so long I wasn’t really sure if it even happened or not. And as soon as I was done explaining everything to her, the look of concern and worry on Teenyma’s face suddenly became more exaggerated.

“Hay, what’s wrong?” I asked, turning my head to face her.

Teenyma was quiet for a moment. She turned away from looking at me to staring at the carpeted floor. There was a glint in her eyes. A shine. A twinkle of sudden recollection or maybe dreadful recognition. Whatever it was, I did not like it. So, wanting to do something about it, I sat up straight and asked.

“Hey, Teenyma, Is something the matter?”

But she did not reply. At least not at first.

Instead, in that moment where she had her eyes fixated on the Living room floor, there was a flash and her memory as she suddenly remembered something The Doctors who were in charge of me at the mental asylum had told her right before she signed the papers and documents for my 1-year release on probation.

After close and critical observation, I was free to go. However, if and when I do eventually start to exhibit certain ticks and behavioral patterns, or, if and when I eventually begin to experience abnormal mental symptoms such as frequent hyper-realistic nightmares, hallucinations, and whispers loud enough that I could start to make out certain words and phrases from within them, then Teenyma, as my self-chosen legal guardian, was to immediately report this and a team of security operatives would be dispatched to sedate and restrain me. Terminating my probation in the process and returning me to the asylum for further confinement. Failure to do this would not only potentially have me permanently placed in confinement, but can also prove to be a catastrophic and colossal mess if I am not immediately apprehended after the first stages of the symptoms starts to develop.

Of course, at the time, I did not know about any of this. Teenyma was the only one of us with knowledge on the conditions of my release and she did not share them with me. I didn’t even know I was on probation. I was simply told at the time I was being set free, that new findings in the murder investigation had narrowly proven my innocence. And so, there was no longer any need to keep me. I did not ask any questions; I did not ask for specifics. I was just happy to go home. However, I had no idea the second I start to give off deranged, psychotic, murderous killer vibes, was the second I was going to have my ass drugged and dragged back to the big house. And that Teenyma was the one with the power to decide when that happened.

As you can imagine, this bothered me a little when I eventually found out. But that night, as Teenyma was still stuck staring at her living room floor, I had no idea what was going through her mind. So, in order to at least try and get her to talk, it was my turn to place my hand on hers and give it a little squeeze. And as she suddenly snapped out of whatever deep thought she was in, Teenyma straighten up and turned in my direction.

“Hey,” I said to her. “Are you okay?”

She gave me a slow nod of her head in response.

“Are you sure?” I asked. “Is everything alright?”

This time, she responded with a smile as well as a thumbs up. Trying to make it seem as if everything was fine despite the fact her eyes still held a glint of sadness within them. But I knew I wasn’t going to get through to her right then. We both were exhausted, we both had quite the long and eventful day and we needed to get some sleep.

8.

That night, while I was sleeping in the guest bedroom of Teenyma’s apartment, I had another nightmare. This time, I was standing in what seemed like the middle of hell. There was fire everywhere. To my left, to my right, in front of me, and behind. I was standing in an empty field of shifting red and orange, where nothing and everything was burning. But I wasn’t hurting.

I was completely fine. Which, in turn, confused me.

I looked down at my hands and legs, and I was quite surprised to discover I was standing in my own body. I wasn’t trapped in some other stranger’s body like I normally was. I was me. I looked up to gaze around my surroundings, but all I could see for miles and miles was an endless field of dancing flames. For a second, nothing happened. There was just me standing there, completely untouched by the flames while the rest of the world burned around me. There was no sound either. Other than the gentle enveloping rush and rise of the crackling fire, I couldn’t make out any other noise beyond that. But then, just as I was starting to think I was alone, something happened.

A figure suddenly appeared in the distance ahead of me. I was a bit startled at first but quickly regained my composure when I realized I somewhat recognized the person I was staring at. It was a man. Dressed in kimono styled robes and a hat. Although he was standing several yards away, I was able to recognize him from the nightmare I had the previous morning before school.

Like me, he was just standing there in the midst of flames not doing anything. I couldn’t see his face as he had his head lowered and staring at the ground, but there was no doubt he was the old man I dreamt to have been stuck in his body while he battled a shape shifting demon and her army of dragon knights.

Suddenly sensing he might be able to help, I lifted my arm up and tried to get his attention. “Hey! Over here!” I yelled over the gentle roar of the fire all around us, while I waved my out stretched hand side to side.

But he did not respond.

“Hey!” I yelled again, still waving my hand. “Over here!”

There was the roar of flames. The crackling of fire. But just as before, he did not respond.

Disappointed, I lowered my hand to rest. However, a dreadful sense of unease suddenly crept up the back of my neck as I soon realized something horrific. The figure, the old man, was missing his right arm. Almost as if it was sliced off at the elbow.

Not only that, but the place where his sword should have been, connected to the belt on the left side of his waist. It wasn’t there. The spot was empty.

“Doko.

Da.”

I was startled at the sudden sound of a voice I didn’t recognize. I turned around. Looked up. Look left. But I couldn’t tell where it was coming from.

“Ore.

No.

Ken.”

Starting to panic after hearing it for the second time, I quickly spun around to the only other person standing there with me. The figure, the old man, was now several yards closer than before.

“Doko.

Da.”

Just as I heard the message reverberate all around me for the third time, I paid close attention to the words being spoken. I suddenly found myself able to identify the language, just not the words being delivered.

“Ore.

No.

Ken”

The figure standing in front of me, the figure of the old man, was still somehow getting closer without actually moving forward. I tried keeping track of his movements, but it was like he only got closer whenever I blinked or whenever I wasn’t looking. I had no doubt he was the source of the ominous message I was hearing, with the demonic undertone of his voice elevating the severity of the words being recited.

I had this sudden urge to flee, to get as far away from the approaching man as possible. But no matter how much I tried, no matter how much I willed my body to do so, I couldn’t do that either. I suddenly found myself unable to move, and the more I struggled, the closer the man got. However, for a split second, just as the space between us was approximately 10 ft. apart, he vanished.

Only to then reappear an instant later right in front of me.

Everything happens so fast after that. But I caught a quick glimpse of his face before any of it happened. He had deep black eyes, and razor-sharp teeth. A face I recognized to have been hunting my dreams ever since I was 9. It was the face of the black spirit. The Ghost of vengeance. Not the old man.

Sensing the immediate danger, I tried screaming but The Black spirit suddenly shot out its only good arm and grabbed me by the throat. I couldn’t breathe. As I choked and struggled for air, it slowly lifted me by the neck and held me in a suspended state while it proceeded to intensify its grip and the muscles in my neck began to break. My eyes went wide and started to water. My throat felt like it was about to cave in at any second. My nose started leaking blood, and my vision was starting to blur. All the while, the creature, the ghost of vengeance, continued staring up at me through those menacing eyes, watching the life as it slowly leaked out of me.

However, just as my vision began to darken and my body began to go limp, there was one more sentence I heard it speak before everything went black.

“Ore no ken ga.

Hitsuyou da.”

That was when I woke up.

I woke up sucking in a huge gulp of air, desperately trying to fill my lungs with oxygen as I shot up to a sitting position and began coughing violently. The room was shrouded in darkness, only illuminated by the soft glow of the moon pouring in from the window behind me. Teenyma came bursting in through the bedroom door a minute later, dressed in her pink sleeping robes with her hair laid down. “Hiroshi!” she yelled, as she immediately rushed to squat by the side of my bed, completely forgetting to flick on the lights in the heat of the moment.

“What’s wrong?!” she asked as I continued coughing violently. “What’s the problem are you alright?” she asked again, and this time I was starting to hear the fear and confusion in her now shaky voice. “Hiroshi talk to me. Please. Stop coughing. she demanded. “But I couldn’t. My throat still felt like it was getting tighter by the second, despite the fact I was no longer having the nightmare.

“Water.” Teenyma suddenly said to herself, getting up an instant later to Sprint out of the room before running back with a glass of water in hand. Not wasting another second, she carried the glass to my lips and urged me to drink, holding up the cup as I drank while also caressing the center of my back with her free hand. The water, as it went down my throat was freeing and relaxing. My throat felt much less constricted, and after I had finish drinking, I stopped coughing.

“Wait. No, don’t move.” Teenyma reacted as I tried getting off the bed. “Just relax.” she said. “Let the water settle.” She took the cup from me and asked. “Do you want more?” I shook my head in response, and through wide and concerned eyes, she asked again. “Are you sure?”

I nodded.

Satisfied with my answer, she placed the empty cup on the bedside table. “Here.” she said, helping me to get out of the blanket and sit on the side of the bed.

Then she sat beside me.

“What happened?” she asked. “What made you start coughing so much? Was it dust perhaps? Or the cold?”

“No.” I replied, my head lowered and staring at the floor. Flashes of the dream flooded through my mind that very moment, causing me to grit my teeth and grip the sides of my head in frustration.

“It was just another stupid nightmare. “I said, frustrated.

“Why won’t it stop? “I whispered, more to myself than to Teenyma. “Why won’t it just stop? “I said again, becoming more frustrated by the second.

Teenyma reached out and placed a hand on my back. “It’s okay.” she said. “It was just a bad dream. It’s over now.”

We stayed like that for almost a minute, the both of us sitting in the semi dark room on the side of the bed, with Teenyma gently caressing and rubbing my back, while I relaxed and the nightmare slowly faded into distant memory. Just like the others, this one felt so real with the smells, the sounds, the sights, and the thing that was trying to kill me. Unlike the rest however, it was also one of the very few dreams I experienced as myself and not someone else. The first time I could clearly remember having such nightmares were again, shortly before my 10th birthday. After that, I occasionally had them while I was in confinement, but ever since I got out 6 months back, I hadn’t experienced such a nightmare until that night.

“Feeling better?” Teenyma asked after a short while, still rubbing circles around my back with her palm.

“Yeah.” I responded. “Thanks for rushing in so fast by the way.” I said, turning to meet her gaze and smiling.

“You kidding? I would have been here a lot sooner if only I had the power of teleportation.” she said. “Also, don’t mention it. It’s my job as your aunt, to always ensure your safety. And it’s a job I put first before anything else.”

She returned the smile, and I felt a million times much better in that moment. Then, after some more time had passed, she asked.

“Do you want to talk about it? The dream that is. Do you think it will help to talk about it with me?”

I took a second before replying. “Yeah. “I said. “But you already know how most of it goes. Strange location, one that I have never seen before, and something that was trying to kill me.”

Teenyma lifted her head from my shoulder and turned to stare at me. “Well,” she said, “What did it look like this time around? The thing that was trying to kill you.”

“I don’t know. “I replied. “Like a man, I think. An old man.” I quickly thought back to the dream before I continued speaking. “He was missing an arm. His right arm. He also had these deep black eyes; I think he might have been possessed or something. And he also kept repeating these phrases to me over and over again.”

“What was he saying?” Teenyma asked, her eyes curious.

“I’m not sure. “I replied. “But I think he was asking me the whereabouts of something.”

“Of what?” Teenyma asked.

“His sword maybe? I don’t know. It looked like he had lost it.”

“His sword.” Teenyma repeated, lowering her voice to a whisper as she suddenly trailed off and went quiet. She had a brief recollection of an event that happened to the both of us as kids. An event that, involved an old man stepping onto the road while our parents were driving. He was bleeding from top to bottom, and he appeared to be missing his right arm from the elbow. His white robes were torn and burnt, and his eyes were rapidly alternating between the color black and normal.

She remembered how my dad was able to step on the brakes at the last second, bringing the car to a scraping halt near inches away from actually hitting the old man. But that did not stop the elderly stranger from collapsing on the ground an instant later and dying from his already sustained injuries the next. Teenyma remember being shocked at the site, but was unable to do anything as both my mom and my dad rushed out of the vehicle to help the stranger. Their orders were for us to remain seated in the car, but when they decided to rush the man to the hospital, we were asked to quickly step out of the vehicle while his body was carried over to the back seat. That was when she looked around and found me slowly walking towards the side of the road, where I was completely transfixed and leaning over to pick up something lying in a patch of bushes.

It was black. And although she couldn’t quite see it from where she was standing, from her angle, she could have sworn it almost resembled the hilt of a sword.

“Hey. Earth to Teenyma. Are you alright?” I suddenly called out after she had spent nearly a full minute staring at the bedroom floor. Teenyma lifted her head back up and turned to stare at me. “It seems like you zoned out quite a bit back there.” I said. “Are you good?”

She gave me a short nod, and through saddened eyes, she tried to top it off with a reassuring smile. “I’m okay.” she said. “I was just a little worried that’s all. Still am to be honest.”

That made me feel guilty.

“Well don’t be.” I told her, knowing fully well that for Teenyma, that was easier said than done. “I told you I am fine, okay? So, you don’t have to worry.”

“Okay.” she said. “I’ll try. But on one condition. Are you absolutely sure you’re alright? Because I can’t go back to bed until I am fully convinced that you are a hundred percent fine.”

“Truly, I’m fine now. “I replied. “I don’t want to be the reason you show up late for work tomorrow so, please go get some sleep.”

“Please.” she said dismissively. “Family first, work second. But okay. “She gave me a quick hug, then got up to leave.

9.

The following morning started off relatively normal.

I got out of bed feeling refreshed, then showered, brushed my teeth, and got ready for school. Teenyma already had breakfast ready by the time I came out into the living room. I took my medication after I was done eating, despite the fact I hadn’t really experienced any whispers since I arrived at Teenyma’s apartment the previous evening. But I was supposed to take them three times a day So, I couldn’t simply ignore them.

By the time I was finally ready to leave for school, I was standing in front of the apartment with my backpack slumped on a shoulder while Teenyma locked up the place with her house key. Like me, she had also showered, brushed her teeth, worn a fresh pair of similar clothes she had on the previous day, and was also preparing to leave for work. I waited a bit as she struggled to get the door locked, before… “Finally.” she exclaimed in joy. “All right, let’s go.” she said, as we begin moving towards the stairwell.

“Remind me again why we don’t take the elevator.” I asked as we began descending down the stairwell. “You know, the more convenient choice. “I added, pointing out the obvious to her.

Teenyma’s reply was almost instantaneous. “I told you.” She said, coming down the stairs behind me. “This is how I get my steps in.”

“Exercising when there is barely any meat on your bones as it is.” I pointed out teasingly.

“It’s to stay healthy dummy.” She replied, smiling.

Halfway down the stairwell and we continue talking.

“You know, with the amount of money you’ve generated for the magazine this past week alone, I really think a limousine should be parked waiting for you every morning.”

“Right?” Teenyma replied, agreeing with me. “Although if the company did provide me with a private chauffeur who would drive me to work every day, I would kindly request that he drops you off and picks you up from school instead. That way, you can show off to the guys and get the girls.”

“And who says I’m interested in getting the girls at the moment. “I asked jokingly. “In case you didn’t know, I’m still in my second year of high school.”

“You have to be interested!” Teenyma almost jumped at the opportunity to reply. “I need to see my grand nieces and nephews, so you need to get down and busy as soon as possible. Don’t you know I’m not getting any younger?”

You’re 19.””I stated a matter of fact.

“Yeah. 19 And counting idiot.” Teenyma replied with all seriousness, and I began laughing. And soon enough, we came down the rest of the stairwell then exited the building into the bustling City streets.

There were cars moving up and down the road. People too, moving up and down the sidewalk. The skies were much clearer than the day before, but there was still that little hint of another potential rainstorm hiding within the clouds.

Teenyma, who was still standing beside me on the sidewalk, finished adjusting the strap on her pink cross body slim bag before turning towards me.

“You got your medication?” she asked, with the look on her face shifting into that of a mom scrutinizing her son’s inventory before school.

“Yes Mam.” I replied, knowing fully well that she knows fully well that I rarely forget my medication.

“What about backup medication? You’ve got that too?” she asked.

“Yes mam. I’ve got that too.” I replied, smiling.

Teenyma waited for a second then rushed me in a hug, almost knocking me over. A bit startled but still smiling, I hugged her back.

“As soon as school is over, you come straight home, okay?” she said.

“I will. “I replied.

Teenyma made as if she was about releasing me from the hug, but then hugged me even tighter.

“Are you absolutely sure you are okay?” she asked. “You can stay home if you want you know, just to relax and stuff. After all, you did have quite the rough night last night.”

I briefly remembered What she was talking about, the nightmare I had of the black spirit who was trying to strangle me. Recalling the dream caused a shiver to run down my spine. But, after calming myself down a bit, I hugged Teenyma a little tighter and reassured her.

“I’m fine. “I said. “I don’t need to relax at home. It was just a dream remember? I’m okay. I promise.”

It took a little while but then she replied. “All right.” she said. “But just remember to come home, okay?” she added. “And if you are going to be running late for one reason or the other, like suddenly maybe going on a date after school with a girl who might potentially be the future mother of my grand babies, you at least send me a text letting me know all right?”

I blushed a little at that.

“All right.” I replied, seemingly unable to stop smiling. “I will as well.”

And with that, Teenyma finally released me from the hug, tapped me on the nose with her finger, before turning around to head in the direction of her workplace.

“See you later Oshi!” she said, glancing over her shoulder and waving goodbye.

“See you later!” I waved back.

10.

I finally got to school 12 minutes later. I entered through the front gates at the same time several other students were moving into the main building, and among them was the caramel-colored hair girl from the day before. I tried waving to her, to show that there were no hard feelings. But the second she turned and recognized that I was the one calling out to her, she freaked out, yelped, and ran away frightened into the building. Honestly, I did not even know why I even tried. I already knew what she thought about me, and what she might most likely think of me for the rest of her life. But I just wanted to show her that I wasn’t any of those things people said about me, and that deep down, I was actually a pretty nice person. But I never got the opportunity to do so.

11.

On my way back to the apartment after school, it was once again pouring heavily. The skies were a deeper shade of gray, and the time was quickly approaching late evening. Thunder rumbled, lightning flashed, And I was seemingly the only one outside walking home at that hour. I held an umbrella over my head, which now made two umbrellas I had to return back to the school’s student supply by the end of the week. I had just begun walking passed a dark alley when all of a sudden, I heard someone, or something, call out to me.

“Boy.”

Startled, I came to an abrupt stop then turned to look over my shoulder. There was rain, and empty sidewalk, and a quiet and lonely road. But there was no one there. Suspecting I might have simply imagined the whole thing, I refocused my attention on getting back to the apartment. However, I barely made it a few steps before I heard it again.

“You. Boy.”

This time I stopped and turned around completely. There was obviously someone trying to get my attention. But as it was, I couldn’t see anyone. It was quickly getting dark; I was seemingly still the only one left standing outside in the rain. For a second, I thought it might have just been the whispers rising up from inside the back of my head like they normally did. There were times in the past where the whispers got so loud, I thought There was an entire crowd of people standing right behind me. But something about the voice I was hearing in that moment sounded external. And I only just took my medication a few minutes before leaving campus, so it couldn’t have been the whispers.

“Hello! “I called out. “Is anyone there?!”

There was the sound of rain. But there was no reply.

“Hello! “I called out again. “Is someone there!” I asked, starting to get a little frustrated. But there was still no reply. I was just about to give up, ignore the person completely, and go home. But then,

“I am here.”

A disembodied voice suddenly spoke out to me, causing me to nearly jump out of my skin. It sounded like the voice of an elderly man, weak, but still familiar. Realizing where the voice was now coming from, I quickly spun around and came face to face with the entrance of the alleyway. “Hello!” I called out to the stranger. “Are you in there?! Are you hurt?! Do you need help?!”I was still feeling a little jittery about the whole situation, but I just needed to ensure whoever was calling out to me wasn’t in some kind of medical emergency.

Once again, the reply wasn’t immediate. While I stood on the lonely sidewalk with an umbrella over my head, waiting for a response, I stared intensely into the alleyway desperately trying to see through the darkness. But I couldn’t. It was almost like a thin layer of blackness stood shrouding the entrance, And I was never going to be able to see what was on the other side, not unless I was willing to…

“Come forth. Step into the darkness.” said the disembodied voice of the elderly stranger on the other side. “We don’t have much time.”

“What?!”I asked, confused. “Who are you?! Where are you?! Why can’t I see you?!” Once again, I was shocked at how familiar the stranger’s voice sounded, but I was too much in a panic state to figure out where I might have heard it before.

“We don’t have much time.” the voice of the elderly stranger repeated, much quicker this time. “You must step into the shadows. Now! Before she finds you.”

Scared and confused, I was frozen in place for a minute, not really sure What else to do. On the one hand, getting as far away as possible from the voice and the Alleyway should have been my number one priority, but for some reason, I didn’t. In that moment, I wasn’t really frightened at whatever was inside of the darkness of the alleyway, calling me inside. I was more frightened at whatever was standing outside with me, that the voice was trying to warn me from.

“Wait. What do you mean?! Who is looking for me?!”I asked, still standing in front of the alleyway, still the only one left alone in the streets. I briefly turned around, terrified, and began searching my immediate environment for any signs of danger. That’s when I saw it.

Up on a rooftop some couple blocks away, was a bird. The same bird. Amber colored eyes, disheveled black feathers. It was perched on the roof of an apartment complex looking at me. I remembered seeing it outside my classroom window the day before. It must have been following me. But why.

Still watching the thing, a terror began forming deep within the lower parts of my chest. Then, without warning, the strange bird gave an impossible hawk like shriek as it spread opened its wings and free fell rapidly down the length of the building. Towards the ground.

For a second, I thought it was not going to make it. I thought I was just observing an abnormal looking bird carrying out an abnormal suicidal freefall. But then, at the very last minute, I watched as black smoke began to erupt from the body of the thing, rapidly consuming it and trailing behind as it fell. And just as it was several inches from nose diving into the pavement, I witnessed as its entire body exploded in a fine mist of purple and black smoke, which then showered onto the sidewalk an instant later.

For a moment nothing happened. There was just the sound of rain, the rain itself, and the sound of my beating heart. I had almost completely forgotten about the voice in the alleyway, I had almost completely forgotten What part of the now darkened city I was even standing in. I was just so transfixed on the purple and black smoke swirling on the sidewalk several yards ahead of me, I didn’t even care for my safety, or whether what I was looking at was real or not. Then, after what felt like a small eternity, a face finally emerged at the center of the now quickly dissipating smoke. It was the head of a woman. With bright red eyes, and an evil grin stretched across her lips. I couldn’t believe it.

As the reality of my situation struck, something in my head finally clicked and I wanted to get out of there as fast as I could. I wasn’t dreaming. Terrified, I began to move backwards towards the entrance of the alleyway well I kept my eyes trained on the crimson eyed woman standing in the street across from me. As if reading my thoughts, Akuno, the shape shifting demon who only ever existed within my nightmares up until that point, responded to my retreat with a smirk, before shape-shifting into a nightmarish horrifying creature an instant later, taking on the form of a massive black wolf with razor sharp teeth, a powerful muscular build, and a pair of glowing amber colored eyes.

I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.

Then, while still glaring at me, the monster began growling before, without warning, suddenly burst into a sprint down the street right towards me.

I croaked.

At the sight of the massive creature galloping its way down the street towards me, I was suddenly unable to move any part of my body. I was in shock. Frozen with fear. My mind completely blank, my heart thumping in horrified anticipation of getting mauled by the creature. Was I dreaming? Did I somehow fall asleep in the class and was now having another one of my many nightmares? So many thoughts were going through my head at that very moment, desperately trying to make sense of everything that was happening. But then, at the very last minute, just as the creature sprung into a dive towards me with its claws out stretched, two red beams of very powerful laser energy shot out from the eyes of the stranger standing behind me and struck the creature square in the chest, sending it flying backwards and crashing back down in the middle of the street.

What the hell was happening?

“Come with me boy.” The strange and yet familiar elderly voice from earlier suddenly spoke out to me from behind, and I snapped out of my horrified state before turning around to find a figure I recognized. It was the old man. Dressed in his kimono styled white robes and straw hat.

Again, what the hell was happening? Why were aspects of my nightmares suddenly occupying my waking world.

“She won’t stay down for long.” said the old man who was still standing in front of me, gazing at the massive wolf creature which was still laid down on its side in the middle of the street. Two streams of steam were billowing up from the wounds in its chest, from the points where the lasers had found meat and struck home. Although the old man looked relatively the same as he always did from my nightmares, his eyes were now a charged red from the lasers, and his skin was turning black in certain parts of his exposed body. His neck, arms, feet, chest, and a portion of his face. Also, just as it was from the horrific dream I had the previous night in Teenyma’s apartment, he was now missing his left hand. Almost as if it was sliced off at the elbow.

However, in his left hand, he held an ancient mystical object I recognized almost immediately the second I saw it.

The spirit sword.

“Quickly. Come. We don’t have much time.” the old man said, turning around and taking off running straight through the darken entrance of the alleyway. I hesitate it at first, still having difficulties processing everything that was going on. But when I turned around and found the beast behind me had started to wake and shake off the effects of the laser blast, my decision to follow the old man into the shadows of the alleyway suddenly became that much obvious. Whether I might be dreaming or not, I wasn’t ready to find out by letting Akuno tear me to pieces. And so, with my mind made up, I turned around once more, and with my backpack on, I ran after the old man, right through the darkened entrance of the alleyway.

…

12.

We went through a series of turns and corners, moving deeper into the part of the city I did not recognize, and getting as far away as possible from the shape-shifting demon I was hoping had not fully recovered and was not coming after us. I still had so many questions on what was happening and why any of it was happening, but any and all attempts at having my questions answered by the single-handed samurai running in front of me had gone without a reply. I was confused, scared, and frustrated, and I was gradually beginning to hear little whispers emanating from somewhere inside the back of my head. But I couldn’t risk stopping to take my medication right then, so I kept on running.

Eventually, we came to a stop in another dark alley as the old man began coughing violently and we were unable to move forward. Immediately, I lowered my bag and reached in for a water bottle which I then handed over to him. But he declined. “Poison.” he said, showing me the back of his left hand where the blackness on his skin was actively spreading. “Water is not going to help.” he added. “I don’t have much time. We must do this now.” He arranged himself so he was now sitting on his knees in the middle of the alleyway, with his sword, the spirit sword, laid out on the ground between us. I utilized the brief window of peace to quickly take my medication, and as soon as I was done, I was finally ready for him to start answering my questions.

“You. I know you. But how? Who are you?” I asked, trying my best to remain calm despite knowing a massive demon wolf could be on top of us at any moment. “Who was that? “I pointed behind me, in the direction of said demon wolf that I secretly hoped wasn’t anywhere close by. “Why did she attack me? Why has she been following me? What is going on? “I briefly waited for the old man to reply, but he didn’t. He just sat there quiet; head lowered; eyes fixated on the sword in front of him.

The spirit sword. My breath was almost entirely stolen at the sight of it. It was long, dark, and sharp at the edges. Its cross guarded hilt was long enough to accommodate for a two-handed grip, and a singular round crystal sat at the center of the handle. In the chaos before, I was unable to get a good look at the sword. But now, I couldn’t believe I was once again, gazing at an aspect of my nightmares I’ve always thought to be just that. A dream.

“The realms are in peril.” the old man Suddenly spoke out, snapping me out of my gaze and ignoring all of my questions. “I have failed to carry out my duties as the samurai, and because of that, darkness is sweeping through the lands and corrupting everything in its path. “The old man lifted his head up to stare directly at me, just as lightning flashed and thunder rumbled overhead. “I don’t have much time.” he continued, coughing a bit. “So, pick it up.” He glanced at the spirit sword laying on the ground between us, and I was momentarily thrown away by his demand.

“What?!” I asked, confused and a little frustrated. “You answered none of my questions! Who are you?! And what the hell is going on?! Why is there a monster after me?!” The old man was quiet for a moment while it continued raining all around us. It was well past 5:30 at this point, and I could only wonder what might be going through Teenyma’s head now that I was running late again. Last time was a blackout at our school which caused the school to dish out an additional 2 hours to every class in order to catch up on missed work. Now what was I supposed to say. Sorry, but I was held up by a monster from my nightmares somehow come to life in the middle of the streets and was trying to kill me? No matter how you put it, I was slowly proving myself to be both unreliable and mentally unwell. And that made me angrier than afraid at everything that was going on.

“Answer me!” I yelled out to the old man, allowing my desperation and frustration to carry out through my voice. “Please.” I begged. “Just tell me. Why is all of this happening to me? Why is any of it happening to me?” There was a brief moment of silence as the old man still wasn’t responding. Instead, he just sat there in the middle of the alleyway, head lowered, staring at the spirit sword in front of him.

“Pick it up.” the Old Man repeated, once again completely moving past everything I had said.

“What? “I asked disbelievingly. “Didn’t you hear anything I just said?”

The old man waited for a little while before responding. “Pick it up.” he repeated yet again, and this time, I was unable to hide the venom in my voice.

“No! “I yelled out. “Why the hell should I? It’s not like you’ve answered any of my questions so why the hell should I do what you asked me to!” If the old man was affected by my sudden outburst, he did not show it. I on the other hand, was enraged. I had an annoyed look on my face, I was breathing heavily, And I had both my hands balled up into fists beside me.

“You will pick up the sword because,” the old man said, still gazing at the ground in front of him. “Because, it is now your destiny.” He lifted his head up to stare directly at me, and before I could react or voice my confusion at everything he was saying, he continued speaking.

“The nightmares. The whispers. The voices. The hallucinations and moments of complete memory loss. I know you experience these things. Just as I know you also frequently experience dreams where it is as if you are living some other person’s life and memories. “I was momentarily stunned at how correct he was at his assessment, so I listened attentively.

“I know these things about you because, I’ve experienced them myself. And the reason I experienced these things, is because of who I am. But the reason you experience such things, is because of who you will be. Who you must become.” I had difficulties understanding and following all of what the old man was saying, but he just kept on talking.

“There is not much time.” the old man said, coughing violently. “You must pick up the sword now.” His one remaining hand was almost entirely black, and the insides of his eyes were quickly turning a sickly yellow. “The poison.” he said. “It’s almost at my heart. I have but a few seconds of life left. So, you must do this. You must pick up the sword, and carry on with the task.” I had no idea what he was talking about. I had never been more confused before in my entire life, like I was in that very moment. I had so many questions, I had so many concerns I wanted to talk to someone about ever since all the shit began happening to me 9 years ago. But now, to have the only person who could potentially provide me with those answers die in only a couple minutes after meeting him, what unfortunate luck of mine.

“Boy.” the old man spoke out after some time had passed without me saying or doing anything. “I understand your hesitation and reluctance to act at this very moment.” he said. “All this must be foreign to you. And strange.” he continued. “But also understand this. Your entire life is about to change and not for the better. Demons like that shape shifter out there are going to start coming after you more often, putting not just your life at risk but also the life of your loved ones as well.” An image of Teenyma suddenly appeared in my mind at that very moment as the old man continued speaking, causing the sense of dread already gripping my chest to tighten even further.

“You are a part of something much bigger than yourself.” the old man continued. “You always have been, but just didn’t know it. An unbelievable amount of power resides within you, waiting to be unleashed. And those who want that power for themselves, are going to try and take it from you at any means necessary.”

I don’t know how long I stood there speechless, eyes wide and gazing dumb-stricken at everything the old man was telling me. I couldn’t believe anything he was telling me. I didn’t know how to. Some part of me at that very moment still wished, hoped, and prayed I was somehow dreaming and none of what was happening was real. Because I just couldn’t believe any of it. I just couldn’t. The old man. The spirit sword. Akuno, the shape shifting demon trying to kill me, these are only things I see and experience within my nightmares. So, I had to be dreaming. I just had to.

Just then, tiny particles of flake like dust began floating off a side of the old man’s body, and I realized in horror what was happening.

He was disintegrating.

“No no no. Wait. You can’t go. “I said, still desperately hoping for answers.

“I’m afraid I have no control over that.” the old man responded calmly, despite knowing half of his body was now nothing but tiny particles in the wind. “It is my time.”

“But I still don’t understand anything. “I cried out. “I still have so many questions.” The old man was still rapidly disintegrating, and half of his body including parts of his face, was now completely gone. And as the rest of his body followed suit, he said to me with his last breath,

“Pick up the sword and we will meet again. Only then, will all this become clear.”

And just like that, he was gone.

For a moment, I didn’t do anything. I didn’t move, I didn’t speak, I didn’t blink, I didn’t even think. My mind was blank, And I just had my eyes fixed at where the elderly stranger once sat on his knees. Obviously, there was nothing there now, just empty space and tiny particles of dust on the ground being swept away by the breeze. If it weren’t for the fact that the old man had left something behind, I would have easily convinced myself that I must have hallucinated the whole thing. But he had left something behind.

The sword, the spirit sword, was still laying on the ground in front of me, exactly how the old man had left it. Taking a second to carefully consider my next action, I allowed the last words of the old man to echo through my mind, guiding me to eventually make the decision to walk forward and pick up the sword. If there was even a slither of chance that I was going to see him again, I had to take it. And if that meant getting myself involved in some otherworldly and bizarre ritual, then so be it. Plus, if picking up the sword was going to somehow guarantee that Teenyma will be out of harm’s way, then I honestly had no other choice.

Now standing alone in the dark alleyway, I briefly closed my eyes and took in a deep breath, before opening them back up and exhaling. Not giving it a second thought, I made my move. Clutching the umbrella over my head and my backpack over my left shoulder, I walked forward and bent down to pick up the spirit sword, but hesitated and reframed from touching the hilt at the last minute. My life was about to change. That much was obvious. But according to the old man, it wasn’t about to change for the better. In fact, it was the opposite. But what if picking up the sword had some connection to that. What if my life becoming a lot worse was as a result of accepting these “tasks” the old man had mentioned, but not explain? I wasn’t sure about anything, and I was never going to be sure about anything. Not unless I got to speak with him again.

And with that, my decision was final. I reached out and placed my hand on the cold hilt of the spirit sword laying on the ground in front of me, and I was not at all ready for the sensations that followed an instant later.

I don’t really know how to describe it. But if I was to try to put it to words, it was like a shock. That’s what it was. Like a jolt of electricity traveling up my hand from the hilt of the sword, up my elbow, through my arm, passed my shoulder and into my back, spine, and head. Then came the images. Flashes of blood, fire, slaughter, and destruction Suddenly came flooding into my mind and showed no signs of stopping. Then came the voices. The screaming. The wailing. The shouting. The suffering. It was quickly becoming too much.

I immediately removed my hand from the handle of the sword, and all at once the sensations stopped. I tossed the umbrella aside and back crawled on my hands away from the thing, keeping my eyes locked on the sword the entire time. I couldn’t tell what had happened, but whatever it was, I really wasn’t looking forward to experiencing it all over again. However, the second I got up to run in the opposite direction away from the sword, something smacked me in the side of the face, sending me crashing to the ground unconscious.

12.

When I woke up 8 hours later, it was on the couch in the living room of Teenyma’s apartment. I shot up straight like I normally did when waking up from a nightmare, and for a second, I couldn’t tell where, or even who I was. In fact, I even briefly forgot my own name. Even after I was immediately pulled into a tight hug by an understandably disturbed Teenyma who had been sitting beside me on the couch waiting for me to wake up, I still couldn’t remember anything. I just sat there staring at her, waiting for all of it to slowly start coming back to me.

“Wha, what happened?” I asked Teenyma who was now sitting on the couch in front of me. “Where, where am I?”I added, closing my eyes and wincing at a sudden dull ache within my skull and the side of my face.

“Hey, relax, okay?” Teenyma responded, caressing my back with her left hand while picking up a glass of water with her right. “Here.” she said, lifting up the glass of water to my lips. After I drank, she took back the glass and placed it on a nearby table. Then, after settling back into the couch, she began explaining.

“You are in the apartment.” she said, looking at me. “Do you remember it?” she asked. “Do you remember my apartment?”

At her request, I glanced around the apartment and sure enough, I began recognizing the place bit by bit but not fully remembering the whole thing just yet. However, it was good enough for me so I turned towards her and gave her a nod.

“Good.” she replied, with the tensed and worried expression on her face relaxing a bit. “What about me?” she asked. “Do you remember me? Do you remember who I am?”

At first, my answer would have been no. But then, I focused on her face for a bit. Her clear blue eyes, her striking blonde hair. She was someone close to me. Someone who was simultaneously my aunt, mother figure, and best friend at the same time. She was my only family. “Teenyma.” I said, smiling.

Completely forgetting I was in pain in her moment of excitement, Teenyma rushed me with another hug, almost knocking me over as usual. “Ah, ah, ah.” I winced. “Don’t you ever hug like a normal person?” I teased, hugging her back.

“No,” she replied, her voice a bit muffled as she still had her face pressed against my chest. The hug lasted for almost a minute and would have gone on for much longer if I hadn’t stopped for a second and pulled her back. And the only reason I did that was because Teenyma, who was still tightly clinging onto me at the time, had started to cry.

“Hey, what’s wrong? “I asked, pulling her away from my chest to investigate her face. “Why are you crying? “I added, catching a glimpse of the tears running down the tops of her cheeks.

Sniffling, she wiped away her tears with the back of her sleeves. “It’s nothing.” she said. “I’m just glad you are back, okay? So don’t worry.”

“Are you absolutely sure you are alright?” I asked.

“Yes.” she replied, smiling. “I’m fine. Really.”

Finally comfortable with her reply, I allowed myself to relax as I looked around the apartment and took in my surroundings.

“What happened?” I asked Teenyma a second time, as I was still having difficulties remembering the past 8 hours.

“You really don’t remember anything?” Teenyma asked, and I shook my head in response. “Not even what I had for lunch.” I said.

“Well, if I know you, it was most likely nothing.” Teenyma responded with a slight frown on her face, knowing fully well that if I couldn’t remember what I had for lunch, it was simply because I didn’t eat lunch. A habit she constantly tried to scold out of me. Embarrassed, I gave an innocent smile at her remark, and with a sigh, she finally relaxed enough to tell me everything.

“You were found passed out in the middle of an alleyway.” Teenyma began. “A lady who had been passing by found you unconscious in the rain. She immediately rushed over to check for a pulse, and after finding it, she made to call an ambulance but then changed her mind when she found your vibrating phone in your backpack with an incoming call from me.”

“Then you brought me here? “I asked.

“Yes, and no.” Teenyma replied.

“What do you mean? “I asked, curious.

“I didn’t bring you here.” she said. “She did.”

“And by she you mean?” I asked, trailing off.

“The strange Lady.” Teenyma replied.

We continued talking for a bit and Teenyma filled me up on everything that happened while I was unconscious. For example, she said that the strange lady who found me somehow carried me all by herself, all the way from the alleyway to the apartment. Also, while in a moment of panic, Teenyma said that she had accidentally given the strange lady the wrong address, but somehow, the mysterious woman was still able to find the apartment no problem. When I asked her what the mysterious lady had looked like, she said. “She had very dark hair, she wore like a dark blue cloak and dress.” She said that she was unable to get a good look at the strange woman’s face on the count that the mysterious woman was very guarded and kept her head down the entire time. However, she could almost swear that the woman had very fair skin, almost unnaturally white.

After Teenyma finished explaining everything to me, we spent an additional half an hour just chatting about random stuff and eating both the lunch and dinner I had unintentionally missed. And after allowing the food to settle, we called it a night and went to bed.

That night, the dream I had was mostly what I experienced while first picking up the spirit sword in the alleyway. Flashes of people suffering. Blood. Death. Fire. Destruction. It was all happening at a rapid pace, and before I knew it, it was morning.

13.

The following morning started out relatively normal. Except, things were no longer quite so normal. Sometime during the night, I had regained parts of my memories. I now remembered some of what happened the previous evening. From the monster that attacked me, to the old man and the spirit sword. I remembered quite a bit.

“Good morning.” I almost jumped out of bed as a cheerful Teenyma Suddenly showed up at my doorstep, wearing her chef’s hat and apron over her usual hoodie and shorts. “Hope you slept well.” she said, smiling, a gesture which I returned in kind. There was no way I was telling her about any of what had transpired shortly before I had passed out the previous evening, So I gave her a thumbs up and a nervous smile. I decided it was best I kept her out of the loop, up until I fully understood everything that was going on.

As we left my room for breakfast, I began getting a strong whiff of something sweet coming from the direction of the kitchen. Milk, sugar, flower, blueberries. “Pancakes. “I said underneath my breath.

“Wow.” Teenyma responded. “Good guess. That’s quite the nose you’ve got there this morning.” she said, looking over her shoulder and smiling at me. I really didn’t think there was more to my observation than the surface level, so I just simply ignored it and smiled back.

At the breakfast table, I was gobbling down my 4th plate of blueberry pancakes when I asked Teenyma if I could have more. “Whoa, someone’s hungry this morning.” she said playfully, and I immediately stopped eating.

“Hey, I was just joking alright? Of course I will get you more silly.” Teenyma said as she went to help get me more pancakes, but her joke comment was not why I stopped eating. I was hungry. Like, extremely hungry. I didn’t realize it before, but now that I was eating, it felt like I had been starving for days. Why was I so hungry?

On my way to school, the train of unusual behavior continued. First was that the sun was out, but suddenly doing something as simple as glancing at my surroundings became extremely painful. I almost had to squint the entire time while walking, with my hand held up over my face to shield my eyes from the sun.

Next was the noise. Outside was becoming too loud, with the horns from cars, the beeps from bikes, dogs barking, and people talking. It was almost as if someone picked up the universal remote and was now cranking up the volume in my surroundings to 11. Everyone and everything were becoming deafeningly loud to the point of hurting. And as soon as I couldn’t take it anymore, I side stepped into an alleyway with my hands over my ears and waited for the noise to stop.

It took a minute but eventually my hearing was back to normal. My eyes had also stopped hurting, and the smell of exhaust fumes and smoke had also started to relax a bit. I didn’t know what was happening. I didn’t know why any of it was happening. I briefly considered returning to the apartment and ditching school entirely for the day, but Teenyma was heading into work a bit late and I wasn’t really looking forward to explaining to her why I was back so early. And since I left the keys to the main house back in her apartment, I couldn’t go back home either.

So, not really having any other choice, and since I was already kind of feeling better, I got out of the alleyway and headed in the direction of school.

14.

A few hours later and we we’re up in our classrooms deep in school work. We were in the middle of lecture jotting notes down while the professor spoke, and for a moment everything was normal. There were no strange birds standing outside my window, there were no students glaring at me like I was some kind of mistake of a human being. But more importantly, there was no Haru breathing down my neck and throwing false accusations to pin on me. In fact, he wasn’t even in class at the time. His desk was empty. If I had to guess, maybe he was on hall monitor duty or something. But I didn’t know and I didn’t care. All I cared about was my moment of peace and quiet. But even that did not last long.

A minute later and I was starting to hear whispers emanating from the back of my head. I briefly set my pen down and reached into my backpack and grab my medication alongside a bottle of water. I popped a few of the pills in my mouth, took a sip of the water, then stuff my supplies back into my bag before lifting up my pen to resume writing. And for a moment, everything was quiet. But then, barely a minute later, I heard it again.

The whispers.

I was confused. I turned around just to see if there was actually someone whispering behind me. There wasn’t. I was seated at the extreme end of the class and there was no one else seated after me. I turned back around to continue writing, suspecting the reason I was still having the whispers was probably because the medication hadn’t fully kicked in yet. But the more I tried convincing myself of the case, the louder the whispers became.

Eventually, the whispers got so loud and aggressive that I was unable to make out what the professor was saying anymore. I kept glancing over my shoulder desperately hoping that it was just the other students pulling a prank on me, but there was no one behind me and everybody else was focused on their school work. I contemplated on taking another dose of my medication only minutes after taking the prescribed dosage for the afternoon, But I wasn’t sure whether it was safe or whether or not it was even going to help. But the more I contemplated on what to do, the louder the whispers got and the more irritable I became.

“Hiroshi.” The professor suddenly called out to me and the whispers briefly subsided. At this point, I already had my head lowered with my hands gripping the sides of my head and I wasn’t writing. “Is something the matter?” he asked. “Why aren’t you writing?” I lifted my head, stood up, and thought of a random answer in the heat of the moment. “I’m a bit lost sir. “I replied. “Sorry.” The professor stared at me for a moment, with a slight scowl on his face. Then, with eyes that was scrutinizing my very existence, he said. “Are you sure you are all right?” He gestured with the marker he was holding towards me. “Your hands.” he said. “They are shaking.”

I looked down in horror and found that my hands were indeed starting to shake. What was happening to me? The whispers were starting to get louder again and it felt like the insides of my body was starting to heat up. I needed to get some air. “Actually sir, I think I may be coming down with a fever. “I said. “May I please be excused to go visit the school nurse?” All eyes were on me as every student stopped what they were doing to witness my panicked state. As they gazed at me with a mixture of abject terror, disdain, and curiosity, I could only guess what was going on in their collective minds. “All right.” the professor finally said. “You may go.”

I did not waste another second.

I grabbed my books, stuff them into my backpack, then grabbed the backpack and swung it over my right shoulder. I marched out of the classroom an instant later. Once outside, I headed in the direction of the bathroom, not the school nurse. For some reason, I didn’t think she was well equipped to handle whatever I might have been going through that morning. To be fair, neither was I but, I needed to try something. When I finally got to the bathroom, I dropped my backpack by the side of the entrance then hastily moved in to rinse my face with water. The water on my face was cold. Refreshing. And after splashing my face three times with it, I stopped and stared at my reflection in the bathroom mirror.

For a moment, everything was normal. The whispers had subsided, and my internal temperature was starting to cool down. The inside of the bathroom was a bit dark as in my haste, I did not bother to switch on the lights. But as I continued staring at my reflection in the mirror, something happened. One moment my reflection in the mirror mimicked my movements and possess similar physical features as I did. The next, my reflection was standing completely still, not blinking, and slowly began developing physical characteristics that were drastically different from mine. Long white hair, deep black eyes, razor sharp teeth, and tiny white horns protruding from the top part of its forehead. In an instant, I was no longer staring at a direct copy of my silhouette in the bathroom mirror. I was now looking at the monster that had haunted my dreams ever since I was a kid. The Black Spirit. The Ghost of vengeance. In all its horror.

Seeing this, I slowly began moving away from the mirror in fear. Was I hallucinating? Was I dreaming? The whispers were starting to creep up the back of my head and my hands were once again shaking uncontrollably. I couldn’t believe what was happening. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.

“Doko.

Da.”

The words came from my reflection in the mirror. Its voice was inhuman. Demonic. And caused every fiber of my being to shutter in response. Just like the nightmare I had the previous night in Teenyma’s apartment, the thing was repeating the same set of phrases over and over again. Phrases I could somehow understand but not interpret at the same time.

“Ore.

No.

Ken.”

It continued speaking, and slowly the bathroom inside of the reflection caught on fire and began burning. I had to be hallucinating. Or dreaming. Or something. I was now huddled up in a corner, desperately trying to block out the whispers with my hands over my ears. But it wasn’t working. Nothing I did was working. The whispers were only getting louder, the insides of my body were quickly heating up again, and the face of the Black Spirit now took up the entire width of the bathroom mirror. I had to be hallucinating. It had to be a dream.

“Please stop.” I said to no one in particular. “Please. Just stop.” The voices in my head only intensified their haunting and incoherent chanting, and the center of my skull felt like it was about to split in two. I rushed out of the bathroom a second later without even thinking, remembering to grab my backpack as soon as I got out. I bumped into someone while hastily moving through the hallway, it might have been Haru, it might have been someone else who possessed a large frame. But I didn’t stop to check, I just apologize and kept on moving. When I finally burst out the east side door of the school’s main building, I rounded the corner and immediately things got a whole lot worse.

A sharp pain shot through my skull, causing me to stop dead in my tracks, drop to my knees, and scream out in pain while clutching the sides of my head. The chanting got louder as the pain only intensified. My heart was hammering away in my chest, beating faster and louder than it had ever had before. The voice is in my head steadily grew to and overwhelming crescendo, filling my thoughts with ideas of hate, violence, and murder. I had the sudden urge to burn the world to the ground, but in order for me to do that I needed something of mine that was missing. I needed my sword.

So, fighting through the pain and trying my best to stay upright, I began walking towards the front gates of the school in order to exit campus. I don’t know why but I suddenly had the urge to get as far away from people as possible. I also needed to find my sword.

15. Teenyma.

Teenyma had spent the last 3 hours of that morning doing what she always did at work. Getting her photos taken. Trying on dresses, taking photos, trying on more dresses, and taking more photos. It was a part of her life she had always enjoyed, and now that she was doing it on a professional level made her all the happier. However, after striking a series of poses while wearing a ryuso, a thought suddenly crossed her mind and she was momentarily frozen in thought.

“Kumi? You alright?”

Teenyma was almost visibly startled at the use of her first name. The person who had addressed her that way was the young black-haired woman operating the camera Teenyma was standing in front of. Her name was Valkyrie, and she was Teenyma’s personal photographer and stylist. Not only that, but she was also her best girl, with their friendship dating as far back as when they both had their start in the industry. Teenyma as a model, and Valkyrie as a stylist and photographer.

“Got something on your mind?” Valkyrie asked, her voice cool and reserved.

“No, it’s fine.” Teenyma replied, trying to play off her worries and concerns. “Just some family stuff.” she added, looking less enthusiastic than she did a moment ago.

Seeing this, Valkyrie took her hands off the camera she was operating and asked. “Want to take a break and go grab a quick early lunch? My treat.” And the once visibly disturbed Teenyma now smiled.

16.

Meanwhile, I was still going through hell.

I had somehow staggered out of campus and was now moving through the busy afternoon streets. My head was still pounding, my heart still felt like it was about to burst out of my chest at any moment. My sensory overload from earlier were back, with my eyes, ears, and sense of smell cranked up to impossible levels, causing me only pain and discomfort as a result. I still heard strange whispers coming from the back of my head, but somehow by walking, the whispers weren’t as noisy as they were when I was stationary. But I could still clearly here the ghost of vengeance, the black spirit, urging me with every step I took, to find that which did not belong to me. Rei. Ken. The spirit sword.

17.

“So, let me guess. This has to do with your nephew in some way.” Valkyrie had asked Teenyma, while they both sat at a table in a restaurant that was across the street from where they worked.

“Yes.” Teenyma simply responded after taking a moment to relax, choosing to admit the truth rather than hide anything. Valkyrie had always been like a sister to her, always providing emotional support to her whenever she needed to talk. And at that very moment, there was nothing more she could have asked for.

18.

Outside however, I was rapidly losing control of my own mind. I couldn’t even think anymore. There was just pain. The environment was too loud, my surroundings were too bright, and the overwhelming smell of exhaust and fumes only added to the skull splitting ache in my head.

I also wasn’t walking properly. Constantly staggering and stumbling, I kept bumping into people on the sidewalk while I constantly apologized and apologized. Eventually, I accidentally bumped into a girl and her smart phone and, for a moment, nothing happened.

The person I had bumped into, the girl, did not say anything. She did not do anything, and she didn’t even try to grab her phone as it slowly flew out of her hands. She just stood there, frozen in a moment of shock. Her phone hadn’t really began to fall either. It was still stuck in the process of flying out of her hands. Slowly. Very slowly. It was then I took a quick glance around my surroundings, and was instantly dumb-stricken by what I saw.

Nothing was moving.

No one was moving.

It was almost as if everything and everyone suddenly came to a screeching halt, drastically slowing down in the process. Vehicles. Birds. Bikes. People. Absolutely nothing was moving as fast as they did a second ago, and it was all so surreal to witness. My heart in that moment, wasn’t really beating loud or fast anymore. It was now thumping rapidly, about a thousand beats per minute, so fast that it might have well been simply described as a steady vibration resonating around the left side of my chest. The whole experience only lasted for a few seconds but it felt like forever. And when time began moving again, the whole world sped up, and the girl’s phone which was suspended in mid-air a moment ago came clattering onto the pavement.

As expected, the girl wasn’t happy about her fallen phone. She was furious. She suddenly began hurling very angry words my way in a fit of rage, and I quickly apologized before getting out of there as fast as I could, not sparing her or her phone a second glance.

19.

Teenyma had been chatting with Valkyrie the entire time, bringing her up to speed on the parts of my case she hadn’t shared with her yet. She told her about the conditions on my release from the asylum, she told her about the medications and treatment I sometime received. But she did not tell her how said medications and treatment were starting to lose their effect on me, and how I was slowly starting to meet the conditions for arrest specified within the legal agreement she had signed,

She hid all of this from Valkyrie not because she didn’t trust her, but because she didn’t want the innocent girl to be a part of what Teenyma herself was planning. Which, in short, was to hide my deteriorating state from the appropriate authorities, up until she was able to find an alternative way to help me that doesn’t end up with me thrown back in the mental asylum, most likely permanently this time.

20.

The once clear weather outside now resembled as if it was about to rain. Although my eyes were no longer hurting as much, my other senses were still firing off the charts which still made me extremely uncomfortable. I was now stumbling through an alleyway, the same one I had ran through with the old man the previous evening. And although my memories were gradually coming back to me, my mind was still a jumbled mess with chaotic whispers and sinister messages.

My head still felt like it was about to explode. And when I couldn’t take it anymore, I once again collapsed onto my knees in the middle of the alleyway, grabbed the sides of my head as yet another sharp pain shot through the insides of my skull, then fell onto the ground a second later before rolling onto my back with my head facing up towards the sky.

Suddenly, I was too tired to move.

However, just as I began to lose consciousness, there was a gentle rumble of thunder before eventually, it began to rain.

When I woke up this time around, I found myself standing in the middle of some kind of brightly lit throne room. I was dreaming. Somehow, I was well aware of this fact, and sitting in front of me was a familiar single-handed figure dressed in a straw hat, white kimono styled robes, and wooden slippers.

“Welcome back samurai.” the old man said, after some time had passed. “I’ve been expecting you.”